The No. 7 Amherst women’s lacrosse team faced its first loss of the season this Saturday against NESCAC rivals Middlebury, currently ranked second in the nation.

Despite sophomore goalie Talia Land’s impressive 19-save effort and five goals from first-year Claire Dunbar, the Mammoths fell 11-9 at home on Pratt Field.

Amherst took the lead early when Dunbar scored her first two goals of the matchup, unassisted, within the first three minutes of play.

Middlebury countered with two goals of its own to knot the score at 2-2 before Dunbar found the nylon for the third time off of an assist from classmate Maia Noyes with 22:30 left in the first half.

Middlebury’s dominating offense, however, capitalized on an Amherst yellow card at the 16:33 mark to score their second unanswered goal and take their first lead of the contest.

First-year Hannah Gustafson returned the favor off an assist from classmate Isabelle Sennett, but the answering goal wasn’t enough, as the Panthers rounded out its first half scoring with three straight goals to notch the score at 7-4.

Giving the Mammoths one last push before the half, senior captain Julia Crerend netted her 26th goal of the season to put Amherst within two.

Both teams came out of the locker room aggressively after halftime, trading five goals within the first 10 minutes.
For the Mammoths, Dunbar and Katherine Malone ’20 each found the back of the net.

With only 13 minutes left on the clock, the Panthers extended their lead to three goals, 11-8.

Sennett netted one final tally for Amherst, setting the final score at 11-9 as the Middlebury defense held off the Mammoths for the last 10 minutes.

On the defensive end, Sabrina Solow ’19 led Amherst in ground ball pickups and forced turnovers, with three apiece, and Hannah Fox ’20 won five draw contests in the midfield.

The Mammoths will return to action on Wednesday, April 4, when they host Little III rival Wesleyan at 6 p.m.