Well. 7 Womens Lacrosse Unbeaten run ends with 13-12 loss at No. 12 Colby

WATERVILLE, Me. After overcoming an early four-goal deficit and regaining the lead with 11:09 remaining, the No. 7 Wesleyan women’s lacrosse team couldn’t find a rebound as No. 12 Colby pulled away for a 13-12 victory. on Sunday afternoon. The Cardinals (5-1, 1-1 NESCAC) lose for the first time this season, while Colby (2-3, 1-2 NESCAC) picks up a much-needed league win.

The Cardinals played their fourth game in eight days, two of which were played thousands of miles across the country. The Cardinals had a lot of work to do against them and it showed early as Colby outscored Wesleyan 6-1 with 10:10 left. opening quarter.

The Cardinals began to pull back the momentum late in the first quarter Gil Horst ’23 scored another goal the day before Kate Balicki ’23 ended the feed from the target Laura Baines ’24 to make it 6-4 Mules going into the second quarter.

After scoring the last two goals of the first quarter, the Cardinals scored the first two goals of the second quarter to tie the game at 6-6. Olivia Lai ’23 scored a pair of free-position goals just nine seconds apart as the game completely turned as the Mules raced out to a four-goal lead.

With the score favoring Colby 8-7 at halftime, the Mules threatened to pull away and scored twice to open the second half while holding the Cardinals scoreless for over 16 minutes of play. Midway through the third, Lai broke through as his third goal started a 4-0 Wesleyan run that led 11-10 Cardinal with 11:09 left.

A costly yellow card soon followed the Cardinal’s goal Gil Horst as Colby got the win on Elizabeth Hennessey’s extra goal. Just over a minute later, Cami McDonald scored her first goal of the season to put the Mules up by one. The game continued to swing back and forth as Bridget Horst ’26 shot the tying goal at 5:34 from a free point, but Colby answered right back again. This time Paige Saudek scored the winning goal.

Wesleyan’s defense held strong for the next few minutes and got the ball back with just over a minute left in the game. The Cardinals then drew a layup with 34 seconds left, but Lai saw his shot go wide. Then reboot, Gil Horst the attempt also missed and Ainsley Dion caught the ground ball, ending the game.

Lai scored five goals and went 3-for-4 on free-range shots as it marked another season high for the senior offense. Baine also added a season-high three assists Gil Horst scored a season-high three goals, enough for the third hat trick of his career. Gil added three ground balls, two draws and one caused turnover.

The key stat here came on the draw as Colby racked up 24 draw controls compared to just five for the Cardinals. In addition, the Mules got +10 on ground balls in the game (35-25).

The Cardinals’ four-game road swing has come to an end as Wesleyan returns to Smith Field on Saturday to open against Bowdoin at 12:00 p.m.