c/o Brian Katten

The men’s lacrosse season came to an abrupt end on Saturday, May 3 when the Cards faced off with Little Three rival Amherst, who defeated the Cardinals 12-8 in the semifinals of the NESCAC tournament.

“There is no denying that it was a very disappointing game,” said Captain Elliot Albert ’14. “It was one of our poorer efforts all season, and it happened to be in the semifinals.”

From the opening whistle, the Lord Jeffs dominated, winning five of six face-offs, taking 10 more shots than the Cardinals, and jumping out to a 4-0 lead before the end of the first quarter. The Cardinals finally got on the board with 1:46 remaining in the opening quarter when Lyle Mitchell ’16 scored his first of three goals of the day. By the end of the first half, the Jeffs were leading 6-2 and were in complete control. The two goals in the first 30 minutes of play was one of the lowest offensive outputs of the season for the Cardinals.

“Amherst went up 4-0, which was a tough hole to get out of,” said Captain Aidan Daniell ’14. “They were fired up, and we worked hard, but the gap was tough to close.”

The last time the two teams met, it was the Cardinals who had the fast start, and they took the early 4-1 lead. But in the rematch, where the Cardinals were hoping to avenge the earlier loss, it was the Jeffs who jumped out to post the early 4-1 lead, which they would never relinquish.

“They didn’t change up much, they just played fast and executed when they had opportunities,” Albert said.

The Jeffs continued to dominate the game in the third quarter, outscoring the Cardinals 6-3 and taking a commanding 12-5 lead into the final 15 minutes. It seemed the Cardinals might mount a comeback, scoring two goals in less than two minutes, but in the end it was too little too late. The Jeffs clamped down on defense and would not give up another goal until there was less than a minute to play in the game, and the Cardinals were never able to get close enough to threaten the Jeffs.

With the win, the Jeffs made their first NESCAC Championship game appearance, where they faced four-time defending champion Tufts, who had avenged its lone NESCAC loss in a dominant fashion, defeating Williams 17-6 in Saturday’s other semifinal match. On Sunday, May 4, the Jumbos extended their championship streak to five, beating the Lord Jeffs for the title by a lopsided score of 20-13.

Matt Prezioso ’15 led the Cardinals with 50 points on the season: 35 goals and 15 assists. Quentin DellaFera ’15 was second on the team with 35 points, followed closely by Graham Macnab ’14 with 33. DellaFera and Macnab will join Daniell in representing Wesleyan on the 2014 second team all-NESCAC squad, while four-year starting defender Albert, who led the team with 17 caused turnovers, will be the lone Cardinal named to the first team all-NESCAC squad.

Despite losing key players such as Albert, Daniell, Macnab, and Captain Sam Stanton ’14 to graduation, the Cardinals will return a strong team and look to a promising 2015 roster. Returning two of the top-three points leaders, Prezioso and DellaFera, the Cardinals look to be strong on offense. Although they will be losing Albert, who was the heart of the defense, there are a few young players who look to step up.

“I think the squad is going to be very strong with some underclassmen taking that next step into leadership roles,” Albert said. “Mikhiel Tareen [’15] and Kevin Campbell [’15] will be two guys on the defensive side that will continue to lead the defense next year.”

In addition, Justin Schick ’15 will be returning for the Cardinals in the cage. After taking over the starting role halfway through the season, Schick has been above average between the pipes, posting a 5-2 record with a save percentage of .529 while giving up 9.71 goals per game.

“The lacrosse team will return a solid core of players and will be in the running again for a NESCAC title,” Daniell said.

Although the 2014 campaign did not end the way the Cardinals wanted it to, they have a lot to be proud of, and they can look back on achieving another winning record and a season with many strong performances.

“Obviously we didn’t achieve our goal but it was still a great season with a lot to be proud of,” Albert said. “This was definitely a very special team.”