After several weeks of preseason, the Amherst women’s lacrosse team opened their season against NESCAC rival Bowdoin in Brunswick, ME. Originally scheduled for Saturday, March 4, the game was moved to Sunday due to dangerously cold temperatures on Saturday. No. 15 Amherst dropped a hard-fought battle to the Polar Bears in a 7-6 overtime loss.

Bowdoin was first to strike with a goal off a free position shot from senior Mettler Growney. From that point forward, the game was an exciting back-and-forth match up.

Claire Cagnassola ’17 was the first purple and white player to put Amherst on the board, but before the end of the half, Kelly Karczewski ’18 and Kate Wyeth ’17 tacked on a goal apiece.

Going into the second half, the Polar Bears had a slim 4-3 lead over Amherst. Once again, however, Bowdoin was first to score in the second half, increasing their lead to 5-3. Julia Crerend ’18 and senior Hanna Krueger then contributed a goal apiece to even the score with 16:18 remaining in the game.

However, Bowdoin fired back roughly seven minutes later and regained the lead with a goal from first-year Gloria Zhao. As the minutes ticked off the clock, it looked as though Bowdoin was going to take home a win. However, Crerend’s game-tying goal with only 1:18 left on the clock forced the game into overtime.

Although Crerend was able to extend the game with her thrilling goal, the Polar Bears managed to come out on top in the sudden death overtime period.

Just before the halfway mark of the six-minute overtime, Bowdoin senior Annie Glenn managed to sneak a shot past Amherst goalie Kyra Gardner ’18 to give the Polar Bears their first victory of the season.

Crerend led the purple and white with two goals, while Mary Grace Cronin ’18 and Annie Cohen ’19 each tallied an assist. Kate Burns ’19, Crerend and Cagnassola collected two groundballs each.

First-year Kat Krieg led Amherst in caused turnovers with three, and in goal, Gardner made six saves on 13 shots.
“It was a bummer to lose the first game of the season,” Gardner said. “This team definitely has a lot of potential, and I expect good things as the season progresses.”

With their loss to Bowdoin, the purple and white is 0-1 on the season and in NESCAC play. Amherst looks to collect their first win of the season on Wednesday, March 8 in a 6 p.m. game at Keene State. The team then hosts NESCAC rival Bates on Saturday, March 11 at 2 p.m.