After beating Mount Holyoke 15-5 on Wednesday, April 15, the women’s lacrosse team could not muster the win on Saturday in Medford. The 12th-ranked Tufts team edged the Jeffs 11-10 in overtime. The loss drops Amherst to 4-5 in conference play, while the Jumbos improve to 6-3.

“OT games are always hard ones to lose, but that’s the story of the NESCAC this year,” said tri-captain Meghan Mill ’15. “We’ve had several one-goal games, which is a testament to the tight competition in the conference.”

The contest started when Priscilla Tyler ’15 put the first goal away at just under the 24:00 mark. Less than two minutes later, Caroline Ross put her first of six goals away for the Jumbos, tying the game. In the next 10 minutes, Mia Haughton ’16 and Claire Cagnassola ’17 would score one apiece while Haughton would assist Tyler’s second. Ross had her second goal of the game for Tufts between the Cagnassola and Tyler goals, followed by two more for Tufts. The teams entered the locker room at halftime tied 4-4.

Just three minutes into the second half, Tufts scored their fifth of the day, giving them their first lead. Fifteen seconds later, Coco Kusiak ’17 scored off a pass from Mills to even the score. Two minutes later, Mills returned the lead to the Jeffs by scoring off of a free position shot. Down 6-5, the Jumbos rallied to score the next three goals. A spark from Julia Crerend ’18 led the Jeffs on a four-goal run in retaliation. The first-year scored one unassisted goal and two free position goals, in addition to a goal from Rachel Passarelli ’16 with just over 6:00 remaining.

Ross scored her fifth of the game at 2:40 to bring the Jeffs’ lead to one, and the Jumbos managed to equalize the score with just more than minute on the clock. Ross proved the deciding factor as she put away the final goal in the second minute of extra time to bring the game to its final score of 11-10.

Christy Forrest ’16 had 10 saves on the day, while Hanna Krueger ’17 and Mills each had three groundballs. Tri-captain Heath Cockrell ’15 led the team with three caused turnovers, while Tyler won seven draws.

“Saturday’s game was disappointing to lose, as we had some good opportunities down the stretch to take control of possessions,” said the Amherst head coach, Christine Paradis. “We are still excited about playing Trinity tomorrow and making a run in the NESCAC tournament.”

Amherst hosts Trinity on Wednesday, April 22 at 7 p.m. in their last regular season matchup of the year.