The women’s lacrosse team won its first NESCAC matchup since 2013 when it defeated Conn. College 15-7 on Wednesday, April 22. The Cardinals started the week off shaky with a loss to the second-ranked NESCAC opponent, Bowdoin, but the team was able to bounce back and defeat the tough and higher-ranked Camels. The Cardinals last conference win was also against the Camels, when the Cards triumphed 16-9.
Wesleyan had a week off from action before they hosted the nationally fifth-ranked Polar Bears on Saturday, April 18. Once again, the Cardinals were able to stay close in the beginning of the game against a top-ranked competitor. The teams were tied 3-3 through 23 minutes of play, but the Polar Bears ended the half on a 3-0 run, quickly making the score 6-3. Wesleyan was never able to come close after the first half, as Bowdoin rattled seven goals within the first fifteen minutes of the second half.
The Polar Bears were able to pull out to an insurmountable 15-4 lead with five minutes left in the game, and ended the game on a 2-1 run. They were very efficient with its shots, putting 24 of 26 tries on cage and converting 17 of these into goals. This was perhaps the key difference between the two teams, as Wesleyan took 19 shots but with fewer on goal. Leah Sherman ’15 was able to put two shots past the Bowdoin goalie, scoring her 20th and 21th goals of the season.
In the final game of the regular season, Wesleyan faced the Conn. College Camels at home. The Redbirds started off the game very promisingly, with nine unanswered goals during a span of 13:34 minutes in the first half. At the end of the first half, they lead 9-4. Through strong play on both sides of the ball, the Cardinals pushed on in the second half and did not falter. They scored six more goals and only conceded three for a final score of 15-7.
“We played a great game vs. Connecticut College,” said Martha Harding ’16. “They’re a strong team who beat eighth-ranked Amherst recently; we wanted to end the season with a signature win and we’re really excited the way the game panned out. We played a complete 60 minute game, with the defense, midfield, and attack all executing really well. Our goalie, Nina Labovich [’16], played awesome, too. The best part about the Connecticut College game was that we still kept the pressure on, continuing to score even in the last minute of play.”
Two goals and three assists from Liana Mathias ’17 and four goals each from Harding and Abby Wheeler ’17 paced the Cardinal attack. Mathias’ first goal of the game at 21:05 off a pass from the middle to the left side by Rachel Aronow ’17 gave Wesleyan the lead for good.
Goals by Aronow, Mathias and Wheeler in a span of just 3:47, led to a 7-1 Wesleyan lead with 10:09 left before halftime. Two goals from Harding finished off the Cardinals’ nine-goal burst.
The Camels ended the half with three goals to cut the difference to 9-4 at intermission. Wesleyan got the opening goal of the second half 3:30 into the period from Aronow for a 10-4 edge. The Camels got no closer than five goals in the second half as the Cards maintained a comfortable margin throughout the period.
Mathias closed out the year with 33 points on 21 goals and 12 assists to lead Wesleyan in scoring. Wheeler was able to double her point total for the year with those four tallies. Harding finished the season with 13 goals and four assists and Aronow notched 15 goals and two assists in total.
Neither team qualified for conference tournament, so this was the last game of the season for both the Cardinals and the Camels. It was a great way to end the season for Wesleyan and shows much promise for the future.
“Finishing with a win after an up and down season felt great,” Harding said.“We finished out the season with an awesome win and are excited to improve next year. We’ll be returning everyone except for two seniors, so we are all looking forward to coming into the 2016 season with more experience and confidence.”