Mother Nature may have cooled the Amherst air with a recent cold front, but she was no match for the women’s lacrosse team’s hot streak. This week the purple and white went 2-1 against their NESCAC opponents, defeating Wesleyan and Colby before falling to Connecticut College. With these results, their record now stands at 8-2 for the season (5-2 NESCAC).
In a frigid midweek game on Wednesday against Wesleyan, the purple and white claimed a 10-5 win over their NESCAC rival.Amherst was strong out of the gate with a goal from Rachel Passarelli ’16 to set the tone.
Soon after, Kate Wyeth ’17 doubled the score with an unassisted effort to make it 2-0, and Passarelli again found the back of the net seconds later to further increase her team’s momentum.
Before time was called for the intermission, Coco Kusiak ’17 and Passarelli each snuck one past the Wesleyan goalie. The Cardinals were able to get on the score board with a goal off of a free position shot to decrease at the deficit. Amherst entered the half time break confident, but aware that there was minimal room for error in the second half even with a score of 5-1.
Mia Haughton ’16 opened the scoring in the second when she broke through the Wesleyan defense unscathed to put the purple and white up 6-1.
Amherst continued to capitalize on their advantage and Wesleyan’s loss of confidence. Kelly Karczewski ’18 kept a cool head on a free position and watched the nylon dance behind Wesleyan goalie as she increased the score to 7-1.
Wesleyan’s rebuttal from Julia Black with a goal at the 14:58 mark was short lived when Passarelli scored her fourth goal allowing the purple and white to run away with the lead at 8-2. Dakota Foster ’18 then added Amherst’s final two scores on a pair of feeds from Julia Crerend ’18.
Out of the seven draw controls, Hanna Krueger ’17 won five of them in addition to picking up five ground balls. Also on defense, goalie Christy Forrest ’16 recorded eight saves.
The purple and white next stepped on the field April 10 to face Colby. In a well-fought battle Amherst was able to earn the win on this favorable Saturday afternoon despite a rocky start to the first half.
Crenend and Wyeth got the ball rolling with one goal each assisted by Haughton and Passarelli, respectively. Colby possessed the ball for the majority of the half, limiting Amherst to these two goals and capitalizing themselves on four separate occasions.
The first 30 minutes ended in the Mules’ favor with a score of 4-2. Odds might have been against the purple and white, but they refused to accept this losing fate.
With fire in their eyes, Amherst lined up for the face off determined to win the half and thus the game. The purple and white started their comeback with a Crerend goal from Passarelli that narrowed the goal differential to one.
Amherst then overwhelmed the Mules with five more unanswered goals. Haughton made her presence known in the second half with one assist and two goals before the conclusion of the game. Passarelli created three turnovers in an outstanding effort.
With additional contributions from Claire Cagnassola ’17 and Rowena Schenck ’18, the purple and white left Waterville, Maine Saturday afternoon after securing a 8-4 conference win.
This past Tuesday, the purple and white took on tough NESCAC-opponent Conn. College. Amherst struck first, with three goals in under ten minutes. Passarelli scored first, followed by two quick goals by Krueger. While the Camels got one back, Amherst closed the first half with two more goals, giving them a 5-1 lead heading into the final stanza.
The second half was characterized by some back-and-forth action between the two colleges, as Conn. cut the deficit to 7-4. Any chance the Camels had of an upset were dashed when Amherst scored four goals in the last eight minutes to put the game away. The Camels could only muster one goal in the last eight minutes, and Amherst came away with a dominant 11-5 win.
Next up on the schedule, the team has a tough match up against Tufts Saturday, April 16.
