The women’s lacrosse team suffered a close loss on Saturday in its first game of the season 8-6 against Hamilton, but was able to bounce back and win its second game against Wheaton College.
With the hopes of reaping revenge on their NESCAC rival, the Cards went into Saturday’s game against Hamilton with lots of excitement. The two teams had only played four times prior to this past weekend, with the Continentals victorious in each contest. Wesleyan’s enthusiasm showed in the first half, with the Cardinals taking control and the lead. The Birds were up 5-4 entering the second half, with three of those points scored by Martha Harding ’16, marking her second-highest scoring game to date.
Her first goal came at 17:56 with the assist from Liana Mathias ’17. Midway through the first half, Harding was able to help Julia Black ’18 tie the game up at 2-2. Harding’s last goal was the go-ahead score going into the second half, with an assist from Becca Phillips ’17. The Birds had a 5-4 advantage at the intermission and were in a good position to earn their first conference win since the 2013 season.
The second half did not bode as well for the Cardinals as the Continentals were able to play both stellar offense and defense to bring the game to a close. Hamilton held Wesleyan to only a single goal in the final 30 minutes, while it was able to rattle off four consecutive goals in a span of twenty minutes to take a three-tally lead, 8-5. Wesleyan was able to score the last goal of the game with 2:12 left. The lone goal of the half came from Morgan Moubayed ’17, scoring off a nice dime from Mathias. Mathias also had a honorable three-point game, with all three coming in the form of assists. This was the fourth straight game between Wesleyan and Hamilton that went the Conts’ way by a margin of three goals or less, with last year’s game ending in a close 8-7.
In its second game of the season, the women’s team was able to turn the tides and win a nail biter on the road against a strong out-of-conference team from Wheaton. The squad is now 13-2 all time against the Lyons with the Cardinals winning 10-5 a season ago. Wheaton’s last win against Wes was 30 years ago in 1985, 14-7.
Wesleyan once again came out firing in the first half, being up as much as 5-1 at one point. Wheaton was able to score two quick goals, at 1:41 and 0:56 to make the halftime score 5-3.
Three of these first half goals came from Meredith Smith ’17. The first at 19:05, with the assist coming from Black, put Wes up by 2 goals. Smith was then able to capitalize again at 8:25 and 6:18, the first unassisted and second with the help of Abby Wheeler ’17.
At the beginning of the second half, Wheaton tied the game at 6-6, but with the help of two quick scores from Black, Wesleyan was able to regain the lead and momentum. Wheaton was able to sneak one more goal past goalie Nina Labovich ’16, but this ultimately was fruitless, as Wesleyan won the game 8-7.
This win served as a big morale booster because the Cards were able to stay calm, composed, and on top in the second half.
“A big difference between Saturday’s game (vs. Hamilton) compared to yesterday’s game (vs. Wheaton) is that during the second half we were able to stay a lot more composed against Wheaton,” said Harding. “Both were tight games, but our experience on Saturday taught us to do a better job of staying calm and patient even in a close game. It felt great to get a road win against a strong Wheaton team.”
Wesleyan is looking strong for its future matchups, specifically against Bates this upcoming Saturday at home. Wes is 7-8 all-time against the Bobcats and has not beaten the team from Maine since 2008, a 14-12 win at home.
“Our team is a moving in a great direction,” Harding said. “We’re a pretty young group, but we are motivated and excited to keep improving from last year. Our defense has been tough for other teams to figure out, our goalie Labovich has been playing great, and our attack is going to keep working on executing and finishing off games. Saturday’s contest will definitely be one for the books.”