The women’s lacrosse team finally proved the depth of its talent and the scale of its potential, trouncing Little Three rival Amherst 12-5 on a freezing, rain-soaked Smith Field this Saturday.
The win snapped an 18-game losing streak against Amherst and is Wesleyan’s first defeat of the Lord Jeffs since April 23, 1994—just slightly after the death of Kurt Cobain and a few days before the inauguration of Nelson Mandela. With such a commanding victory, the Lady Cards not only atoned for more than a decade of submission, but also avenged their season-ending losses to the Jeffs in the past two NESCAC tournaments.
“We lost to them by one in the regular season and by one in overtime in the first round of the NESCACs,” said Maggie Lile ’11. “I think we all wanted to put them away heartily. Not to mention it was our seniors’ last chance to play on our home field so it was already kind of emotional and as a class they had yet to beat Amherst, so everyone was fired up.”
As they have done all season, the Cards came out strong from the opening faceoff, grabbing a 2-0 lead after 10 minutes off a pair of goals from Lile, both assisted by Allie Lynch ’11. Although the Jeffs evened the score later in the period, Wesleyan refused to relinquish its momentum this time, pouring on four unanswered goals from Lynch, Jess Chukwu ’11 and two from Charlotte Hastings ’10.
From there on out, it was all Wes. The Cards would end the day with four goals each from Lile and Hastings, two from Chuku, one from Lynch and a tuck from leading scorer Erin McCarthy ’10. The offense was more than enough padding for goalie Abby Sedney ’10, who made her first start of the season for Wesleyan, making eight saves on the day. Sedney enjoyed the advantage of an airtight low defense, whose solid clearing all afternoon gave the Cards the chance to take home the “W.”
“Everything we’ve been practicing finally came together when it mattered,” Lile said.
While strong performances on all sides of the field certainly helped, Coach Holly Wheeler’s motivational skills were hailed by the team as a pivotal factor in the weekend’s success. Wheeler channeled her inner Hemingway on the eve of the contest, comparing the team’s prior inability to seal the deal against opponents to a fisherman letting go of a catch at the end of his line. What’s important, Wheeler subtly told her girls, is to pull the fish on board, and decapitate it with a cleaver.
Fresh from making chum out of Amherst, the Lady Cards will look to toss a stick of dynamite in the pond this weekend against their other Little Three rival, Williams. A win would give Wesleyan its first outright Little Three title since 1982. Last season, Wesleyan ended a 25-year losing streak to the Ephs with a 9-8 victory in Middletown. The Cardinals take on the Ephs on the road this Saturday at noon.
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