The Amherst women’s lacrosse team went 1-1 over the past week, dominating out-of-conference foe Babson College before enduring a tought loss to No. 4 Middlebury College.
In a frigid, mid-week game, the Mammoths blanked the Beavers in an impressive 11-0 win.
Junior Kyra Gardner was a force in net, coming up with eight saves and notching her first shutout of the season. Claire Cagnassola ’17 led the 11-goal effort with four tallies of her own.
A total of ten Amherst players dished out an assist, and Hannah Krueger ’17 paced the group with two helpers.
First-year Katherine Malone also continued her strong early season play, coming off the bench to lead the team in groundballs with six. Sabrina Solow ’19 anchored the defense with three caused turnovers.
After the dominant win, Amherst traveled to Middlebury to take on the defending national champions. Despite a strong defensive effort from the Mammoths’ back line, the Amherst attackers were unable to generate enough offense to top a dominant Middlebury squad.
The Panthers secured the victory in convincing fashion by a score of 13-3. Each of the Mammoth goals came from different players. Senior Kate Wyeth was the first player to put Amherst on the board a little more than halfway through the first half with an unassisted goal. The Panthers held a 6-1 lead over the Mammoths at the end of the first half.
Following the intermission, Middlebury notched two more goals before Julia Crerend ’18 halted the Panthers’ run with a goal of her own to bring the score to 8-2. Middlebury responded with a goal quickly, increasing their lead back to seven.
Cagnassola was able to send one more past the Middlebury goalie before the Panthers went on a four-goal run to close the game and secure the win.
After this past week’s action, the Mammoths stand at .500 on the season with an overall record of 4-4, while the team’s conference record stands at 1-3 following the Middlebury loss.
The Mammoths will look to improve on their overall and NESCAC record when they take on conference rival Wesleyan in Middletown, Conn. on Wednesday, April 5 at 6 p.m. Amherst will then return home to Gooding Field for another NESCAC match-up against Colby.
