Saturday was the perfect day for the women’s lacrosse team to prove they were ready to be a force in the NESCAC. Under a cloudless sky and amid high 60s temperature, the Cards faced the defending national champion and second-ranked Middlebury Panthers at home. But despite several comebacks, Middlebury was ultimately too much and repulsed the Red and Black tide 16-11.
The Panthers, clad in blue, shot out to a 4-1 lead less than nine minutes into the game thanks to goals from Elizabeth Renehan, Channing Weyworth, and a pair by Kim Walker. From there, the Cards ran off three scores in a little more than three minutes, capped by Amanda Belichick ’07 beating opposing net minder Johanna Rosenfeld to her left after a Middlebury turnover in their own zone.
It could have been four, but Becca Vogel ’05 went wide on a penalty shot, so the score was knotted at four with 16:18 remaining in the half. Less than a minute later, Renehan skied high to catch a pass and missed the Cardinal goal, but Alison Perencevich had her back and beat Kate Jones ’06 off the rebound.
After another 60 seconds, Vogel juked a Middlebury defender out of her shorts and burst down the middle, but her efforts at scoring were foiled when the ball got knocked out of her stick, a constant flaw for the Cardinals in general. With less than eight minutes left in the half, Vogel took a long bomb from defender Jen Bianculli ’07, who was back near the Wesleyan zone and converted to tie the score again. Middlebury scored twice more, heading into the half with a 7-5 advantage.
“As far as what we can take from these past few games, we need to play the full 60 minutes and not have sporadic bursts of greatness followed by general lulls of play,” said defender and tri-captain Katharine Needham ’05.
The lead grew to 9-5 as the cats opened the second period of play with a pair of tallies. Seconds after the second goal, Vogel beat Rosenfeld again. After another three minutes of play, tensions ran high as the Panthers’ Claire Edelen received a Yellow Card for tripping Bianculli from behind. The star defender was uninjured and played on, in time to see Vanessa Jones ’05 sprint around the right end an bury a shot to bring the Cards within two. Minutes later, Laura Siegle ’06 banged home the rebound off a Vogel penalty shot to make it 9-8 with 17:10 to go. But from there, the Panthers caught fire, outscoring the Cards 7-3 in the final 17 minutes.
The Cardinals had many opportunities to close the gap or even take the lead, holding the ball deep in the Middlebury zone for minutes at a time. But even when they were down there, it seemed something would cause them to lose possession, be it a sudden loose ball or an untimely foul. On the bright side, Vee Jones ’05 and Vogel each had multi-goal games again, scoring a respective 4 and 3. Additionally, the Cards scored their 11 goals on just 18 shots, versus 32 for Middlebury. This means the team is making their shots count, wielding their sticks to deadly effect. Needham and Bianculli looked great, running the field with great intensity and covering incredible amounts of ground. Needham also cited Lauren Ogden ’07 as having been on a hot streak of late, adding she “definitely deserves a shout out in the Argus for her great hustle, aggression and intensity.”
The Cards, now 6-3 (2-2 NESCAC), play their next game on the road on Apr. 16 at fourth-ranked Amherst. Face-off is at 11 a.m. for all who wish to attend. The Cards show they can hang with the best in short bursts. Now they’ve got to keep it together for long periods of time. Saturday’s game, though a loss, may very well be the confidence boost this young squad needs.
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