The Amherst women’s lacrosse team had another successful week, coming away with two conference wins to improve to an overall record of 9-1. After topping Wesleyan on Wednesday, the Mammoths overcame Williams on Saturday to clinch the 2018 Little III title.

Wesleyan took an early lead in Wednesday’s contest, with goals from Abigail Horst and Emi Ogden-Fung putting the Cardinals up 2-0. However, only 27 seconds after the visitors’ second goal, first-year standout Maia Noyes took advantage of a man-up situation and put the Mammoths on the board. Another goal from Horst restored Wesleyan’s two-goal lead, but a top corner snipe from Katherine Malone ’20 brought Amherst within one just before the half.

Following the intermission, both teams came out hard and went back and forth during the opening minutes of the second half. Isabelle Sennett ’21 got things started, beating two defenders and sending a shot past Wesleyan’s Allegra Grant to tie things up at 3-3. In between two more Cardinal goals, Claire Dunbar ’21 capitalized on a free position and brought the score to 5-4.

From there, the Mammoths went on a 4-1 run to secure the victory. Sennett once again proved to be an offensive catalyst, as her second goal of the game began the run. A few minutes later, Leah Ritterband ’21 gave Amherst its first lead of the game with a top shelf rip off of a pass from Dunbar. The Cardinals managed to get on the board one final time to bring the score to 6-6, but two clutch free position goals from Mary Grace Cronin ’18 earned the Mammoths the win.

On Saturday, six unanswered goals in the first half helped to power Amherst past archrival Williams. Dunbar was the first to convert after the Ephs received an early yellow card that put the Mammoths up a player. Williams’ Emma Tenbarge was quick to respond, finding the back of the net with a free position shot to tie things up.

Eight minutes into the matchup, Amherst started to pull away. Julia Crerend ’18 and Hannah Fox ’20 each powered a free position shot over the goal line, and then Crerend notched two more scores to complete the hat trick. Finishing out the run, Noyes and Malone each contributed a goal to put the Mammoths up 7-1. Williams managed to score one more before the half, but another goal from Crerend and a goal from Annie Cohen ’19 brought the score to 9-2 before intermission.

In the opening 10 minutes of the second half, Crerend found the back of the net once again, and Dani DiTommaso ’20 got on the board to extend Amherst’s lead to nine. Williams started to make a comeback with 18 minutes left to play, but their efforts were not enough. Goals from Malone, Noyes and yet another from Crerend secured the 14-8 win for the Mammoths.

Facing off against Conn. College, the Mammoths dominated from the opening faceoff. The Mammoths scored the first 10 goals and never looked back. The final score was a lopsided 16-3.

Amherst will face off next at home on Saturday, April 14 against Tufts.