Women’s lacrosse has had a rough start to the season. The Cardinals have lost most of their matches and went into this past Tuesday’s game against Western Connecticut hoping for a big, morale-boosting win, and they got it. Not only did the Cardinals defeat Western Conn for the third year in a row, this time with a final score of 17-13, but several of the players had outstanding performances.

Wesleyan dominated the game from the outset. Captain Kaylin Berger ’13 scored the first goal of the match at 4:14. Caitlin Daniels ’15 and Kayla Ellman ’13 followed her, both scoring minutes later. After a quick, successful side shot by Western Conn, Ellman righted the ship with another goal. Hannah Plappert ’16 chipped in two of her own, and one apiece from Maddy Coulter ’14 and Abby D’Angelo ’14 solidified the Cardinal lead, bringing the score to 8-1 in favor of Wesleyan. Western Conn was able to respond with a goal, but Coulter and Martha Harding ’16 quickly answered, bringing the score to 10-2. A quick shot at the buzzer by Western Conn cut Wesleyan’s lead to seven going into the half.

Western Conn came back strong in the second half, scoring the first four goals of the half to bring the score to 10-7. Coulter, Ellman, Berger, and Isabelle King ’16 all scored within the next six minutes, giving the Cardinals a 14-8 advantage. Lydia Kring ’13 and Audrey Le ’15 quickly posted their first goals of the match in the subsequent minutes. Even as the five remaining goals went to Western Conn, the Cardinals still walked away victorious with a final score of 17-13.

“The win was really important in getting us prepared to go into the weekend confident and excited,” said Catherine Taibi ’13.

Not only did this game give women’s lacrosse a much-needed victory, but it also marked an important occasion for two of the team’s most outstanding players. Including their goals in this past match, both Ellman and Berger stand at an important precipice in their careers. Each has 99 career goals. If they were to reach 100 before the end of the season, they would join an elite circle of 12 other Cardinals to hit that distinctive milestone. With a third of the season remaining, both Ellman and Berger are almost sure to do so.

Berger reported that she saw the game as a big victory that sets the team up for more success this weekend.

“I think the Western game was a great showing of what we’re capable of as a team,” she wrote in an email to The Argus. “Every person got in and made a significant contribution towards our win, it was a great collective effort. We dominated the game in almost every aspect from draw controls to ground balls, to caused turnovers and obviously goals as well which has given us a lot of confidence going into this weekend.”

This Saturday, April 13 the Cardinals will host the nationally ninth-ranked Polar Bears of Bowdoin.