The women’s lacrosse team continued its hot streak on Senior Day this past Saturday, April 16. A thrilling 7-6 triumph over Tufts marked the purple and white’s fourth consecutive win.

Hanna Krueger ’17 opened up the scoring with an unassisted goal less than five minutes into the first half. Tufts’ Caroline Ross provided the equalizer soon after. Rachel Passarelli ’16 netted the man-up goal less than a minute after Ross. The game remained tight with Kate Wyeth ’17 notching Amherst’s third and final goal of the half.

However, Tufts finished out the half strong with a two goal lead, with Ross scoring the Jumbos fifth goal with 36 seconds left. Tufts continued its offensive dominance in the start of the second half with Brigid Bowser netting her teams’ sixth goal. Despite the three-goal gap, the purple and white remained composed. Three unanswered goals from Krueger, Mia Haughton ’16 and Passarelli brought the score to 6-6 with just 4:09 remaining in the half.

The Amherst women kept the ball in their offensive zone for the rest of the half. It looked like the Jumbos’ fate was sealed when Haughton put the ball past the Tufts goalie with a little over a minute left, but the goal was called back due to a defensive foul on Tufts. As seconds ticked off the clock, overtime seemed inevitable.

However, with only seven seconds remaining in the game, Krueger found Julia Crerend ’18 open in front of the net. Crerend rocketed a beautiful shot into the top corner of the net to give Amherst the lead. Katie Paolano ’16 ensured the purple and white’s victory by wining the following draw control. The win was a poetic finale to Amherst’s six seniors’ last game on Pratt Field.

“We weren’t able to carry the lead going into halftime, but we definitely had momentum over Tufts and were confident going into the second half,” Paolano said. “We were strong on the draws and held them to just one goal.”

In terms of stats, goalie Christy Forrest ’16 led the team with six groundballs. Rowena Schenck ’18 finished out the game with a team high of four draw controls. Passarelli and Krueger were the offensive leaders for the day with two goals and one assist each.

With this win, the Amherst women improve to 9-2 on the season and 6-2 in conference play. The purple and white will look to continue its win streak with away games at Mount Holyoke on Wednesday, April 20 and Williams on Saturday, April 23.