Despite fighting a heated battle to the very last moment, the women’s lacrosse team fell to the Tufts Jumbos this past Thursday. The away game ended 9-8. Adding another NESCAC loss to their record, the Lady Cardinals are now at 8-5 overall (2-4 NESCAC). The Jumbos, currently ranked 13th nationally, are 9-2 overall (4-2 NESCAC).
The game jumped to a start when Becky Meredith ’06 put the first point on the scoreboard with one of her four goals. She was deftly assisted by Amanda Belichick ’07.
Soon after, the Jumbos scored their first point and Meredith furiously retaliated, scoring her second goal of the game, unassisted. The Tufts women came back and scored three goals within the next three minutes to bring the Jumbo lead to two points.
Drawing the Cardinals closer to the opponent’s score, Captain Laura Siegle ’06 changed the pace of the game with an unassisted goal. Although Tufts scored right after the goal, the Lady Cards earned two neat goals by Siegle and Meredith, respectively. Meredith’s free position shot was the last goal of the half, and it tied the game.
Despite Meredith’s opening goal less than a minute into the second half, the Jumbos quickly came back with four straight goals giving themselves some room to work with.
Not about to be beaten so easily, midfielder Sarah Orkin ’09 whipped one past the defending Jumbos and scored her free position shot to close the gap on the scoreboard. A mere two minutes later, Orkin drove deep into enemy territory and fired an unassisted goal past Tufts goalie Gillian Kline.
Struggling through the mass of sticks and legs, the women did not give up until sound of the buzzer. Kline, who saved the last shot with 12 seconds left, was pressured until the last few seconds of the game.
“I think we went out there with the right mentality, and there were definitely points at which we showed our best,” said midfielder Fiona Lundy ’08. “Unfortunately, it just didn’t work out, and the team is very thirsty to beat them next year. We’re ready to show people what we can do in Middlebury this weekend.”
The women lost to seventh-ranked Colby College last week 14-4 and crushed Wheaton College 20-12 a few days before. Wesleyan scorers during the game against Colby were Belichick, Meredith, Orkin, and Schuyler Swenson ’09. Leading scorers in the Wheaton game were Meredith and Orkin, who each added five goals to their records. The Cardinals also fell 6-3, to NESCAC and Little Three rival Amherst College, in the beginning of April.
The Lady Cards now have three regular season games left and are ready to prove to the lacrosse community that depth goes further than size. They will travel to Vermont this weekend to take NESCAC rival Middlebury College head on.
“The lacrosse team is extremely diligent,” said lacrosse enthusiast Jonathan Gillick ’09. “I know that if they are determined to succeed, they will be able to finish the season out on a high note.”
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