The Amherst women’s lacrosse team collected a huge 9-6 victory this past Saturday against archrival Williams College, a crucial win as it secured the Mammoths a spot in the upcoming NESCAC tournament.

Although Amherst was on the attack for majority of the first half, an impressive performance from Williams goalie Margaret Draper kept the Mammoths at bay for large swathes of the game.

However, senior Claire Cagnassola opened the scoring a little less than ten minutes into the half, capitalizing on an assist from Annie Cohen ’19.

Williams responded with two consecutive goals to take the lead at the 15:31 mark, but Julia Crerend ’18 evened the score off a feed from Cagnassola with 5:37 remaining in the half.

With less than a minute to go before the halftime buzzer sounded, Kelly Karczewski ’18 ripped a deadly accurate shot at the net, catching Draper on her heels and giving the Mammoths the advantage going into intermission.

Amherst came out strong in the second half with first-year Hannah Fox hitting the nylon twice before three minutes had ticked off the clock, giving the Mammoths a 5-2 edge with 27:16 left in the game.

Undeterred, the Ephs roared back, notching three consecutive goals to tie up the game at the 12:14 mark. Crerend and Fox helped put Amherst back on top, scoring an unassisted goal each less than a minute apart.

Williams scored once more before a textbook goal from Dakota Foster ’18 off a dish from Fox and an insurance goal from Crerend sealed the victory for the Mammoths.

Fox was a force in the hard-fought battle against the Ephs, registering three goals, two assists, five groundballs and five draw controls won. Crerend also finished the game with a hat trick and was strong on the defensive end with two caused turnovers.

Kate Burns ’19 and Andrea Rijo ’17 tallied two caused turnovers apiece. Junior goalie Kyra Gardner totaled eight saves in the winning effort.

In their last Saturday game on Pratt Field, seniors Kate Wyeth, Hanna Krueger, Coco Kusiak, Rijo and Cagnassola managed to snap Amherst’s losing streak and clinch a playoff berth.

With the win over the Ephs, the Mammoths move to 6-7 on the season and 2-5 in conference play. Amherst will finish out the regular season at Pratt Field on Wednesday, April 26 with a 6 p.m. game against No. 11 Trinity.