The cold wind that blew across the lacrosse pitch on Tuesday acted as a reminder to the Cardinals of Saturday’s heartbreaking loss to Bowdoin, but the Cardinals came back to life with a big 17-2 victory over the Smith College Pioneers. The Cardinals improved their record to 7-2 overall (2-2 NESCAC).
The Cards did not take long to get on the board as Martina McPherson ’04 scored from in front of the goal just 47 seconds into the game. At the 27:13, Vanessa Jones ’05 intercepted a pass by Smith goalie Bonnie Ewald, who had just held on to the ball for nearly a minute, and streaked down the side and beat Ewald low to her right. After two more minutes of play, lightning struck again as Co-Captain Attacker Bernadette Doykos ’04 caught Ewald off guard to her left. Within another minute, Cortney Tetrault ’07 netted a pass from Becky Meredith ’06, who picked off a Pioneer inbound pass to make the score 4-0 after just 6:30 of play.
The scoring in the first half continued when Ellen Werble ’07 found daylight in the net after receiving the slick cross-field pass from Tetrault. Seconds later, Meredith scored as she ran past Ewald and fell down. After three minutes of quiet play, the scoring lamp lit again when Laura Siegle ’06 scored off of a Cardinal in-bounds pass from McPherson and Meredith. With 3:40 remaining in the first half, Doykos scored perhaps the most spectacular goal of the game. Vogel had the ball behind the goal when she sent one high. Doykos leaped for it a la Willie Mays, caught it, and sent it into the net in front of the stunned crowd as she landed face-first on the ground.
Wes fought against the Pioneers’ spirit and went into the half up 12-0.
“[It felt like] one of those few games on our schedule that might qualify as ‘easy’ games,” said co-captain Bernadette Doykos ’04.
With a 10-0 lead, coach Holly Wheeler took her starters out to let her freshmen get some playing time in. It didn’t help Smith much. One minute into the second half Becca Vogel ’05, the only member of the team to have scored a goal in every game, continued the Cardinals onslaught as she netted another goal over the right shoulder pad of the Pioneers’ goalie.
“It was a great opportunity to get out and perfect the things we’ve been working on,” Doykos said. “Also, everyone got into the game and we had thirteen different goal-scorers which just goes to show how much depth there is on our team.”
After four minutes of play, Kara Brodgesell ’07 cut across the field and beat Ewald to her right. Finally, Smith had some time in the Cardinal zone as they were still playing their starters. With 23:20 remaining in the contest, Megan Etchells beat Meredith Katz ’07, who made one save in playing the second half. Etchells scored again on an end-to-end rush down the far side after an additional ten minutes had elapsed.
“The Smith game was a great opportunity for some of the non-starters to get a good chunk of playing time,” McPherson said, who has 13 goals and 10 assists on the year, including a goal and two assists against Smith.
From then on, it was nothing but a sea of Red and Black. The inexperienced freshmen dropped passes more often, but they often got the ball back immediately. Four minutes after Etchells netter her second goal, Sally Smyth ’07 netted a free position shot, which set the score 15-2 with less than ten minutes remaining. Then Amanda Belichick ’07 scored on a free position, injuring Smith Defender Allison Kenyon, who went down clutching her knee.
Seconds later, Jen Bianculli ’07 scored after running around the goal, beating Ewald low on the left side. Brodgesell netted the final goal with 2:10 to go, though Molly Adams ’07 took a shot at the goal at the buzzer which hit the post. The Cards had 18 shots while Smith attempted only seven due to their inability to enter the Wesleyan zone and ended the game with a score of 17-2.
The next game for the team is Saturday at Williams College, against whom the birds fell 14-8 at home, giving up eleven goals in the second half to squander a 6-3 halftime lead.
Doykos understands the importance of the game.
“This weekend will be a true test. After losing to Williams last year in the second half, we look forward to avenging that loss and proving that we are the dark horse in the NESCAC this year.”
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