After last week’s 20-5 shellacking of Mount Holyoke, “a confidence builder” as Martina McPherson ’04 described it, the twelfth-ranked women’s lacrosse team headed north to Kohn Field with their helmets held high and sticks waving with pride before their Saturday contest at top-ranked Middlebury. That self-assurance did not last long into the first half as the Cards fell to the Panthers 11-5, their first loss of the season.
The contest did not start well. Middlebury’s Nuala O’Donohoe scored the first goal with 16:21 left in the first half, and she returned again ten minutes later to make it 3-0. By halftime, Middlebury led 4-0.
“Despite the loss, we still did a lot of good things,” said coach Holly Wheeler. “We stuck to the game plan, which was to slow down the pace, but we weren’t able to capitalize on the offensive opportunities we had. [McPherson] on defense and Emily Pfeiffer ’05 played some of their best games here at Wesleyan defensively, which was exciting to see.”
The second half began with more of the same as the first. The Panthers scored 38 seconds in and tacked on three more within ten minutes. Middlebury had not quite finished. They scored three more goals, capped off by Elizabeth Renehan’s second score with 13:38 to go, making the score 11-0, a deficit the Cardinals would not make up.
The Cardinals refused to give up. Lauren Ogden ’07 had a fine game, scoring the team’s first goal 1:22 later. Over the next eight minutes, the Cards scored four times, with Becca Vogel ’05 netting two, Becky Meredith ’06 getting one, and Ogden scoring for a second time.
“Middlebury’s a tough game as usual,” said McPherson. “I think we played fairly well. We really tightened up defensively in the second half, but we weren’t too strong offensively.”
Wheeler saw another strong point in the first half.
“We really controlled the ball well,” said Wheeler. “Now we need to capitalize on that.”
Kate Jones ’06 was solid in net for the Birds, making twelve saves, but was pulled after Renehan scored her first goal, the eighth Jones allowed, with 19:28 remaining in the game.
The Panthers peppered the Cardinals with 26 shots, versus 15 for the Cards.
The Birds next game is Wednesday at Connecticut College.
“Conn is an instate rivalry. We’ve gotten the better of them in the past few years, but this year, it’s no different from any of our other league games where it just depends on what happens the day of the game,” Wheeler said. “If we come out firing, and execute, we’ll be pleased with the result.”
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