This past weekend, the women’s lacrosse team (2-13 overall, 1-6 Patriot League) lost 15-11 against Colgate (3-9 overall, 2-4 Patriot League) at home. This Senior Day game was originally planned for Saturday, but play was suspended midway through and resumed on Sunday due to severe weather.
Lafayette had a slow start on Saturday, being outscored by Colgate 4-1 in the first quarter. Sophomore midfielder Sophia Spallone scored the only goal of the first quarter for the Leopards at 7:50.
The team began to warm up at the start of the second, with senior attacker Sarah Bennett finding the back of the net twice in the first seven minutes. Bennett gave credit to her team for working as a unit and giving her the opportunity to score.
“All three of my goals during the game were a direct result of people playing with their heads up and feeding me the ball in the middle,” she said.
Soon after these goals, both teams took shelter in the Kirby Sports Center as the game was repeatedly delayed because of inclement weather. Officials finally decided to resume play at 10 a.m. on Sunday. Despite this setback, Bennett said that everyone stayed in a game-time mindset.
“It just takes one person to bring that energy down, and every single person was completely bought in which was awesome,” she said.
Bennett also credited the parents and the coaches for making sure the athletes had all of the food, water, energy drinks and other supplies they needed to stay in the zone.
When play resumed on Sunday, the Raiders extended their lead 8-4 over Lafayette to end the first half.
In the third quarter, Bennet, along with classmates midfielder Katie Chiasson and attacker Genevieve Strobel, scored but the Leopards still trailed the Raiders 13-7 by the end of the third.
Lafayette rallied in the fourth quarter with a four-goal run that closed the scoring gap to 14-11 at the 7:13 mark. However, the late game push wasn’t enough for the Leopards to overcome Colgate’s lead, with the game ending with a final score of 15-11.
While the Raiders took one-upped the Leopards in most of the game stats, Lafayette’s junior goalkeeper Lexie Coldiron out-saved her Colgate counterpart, making 14 saves on 29 shots.
“[Coldiron] is so reliable and so smart and able to just come up with saves,” Bennet said. “Every game, rapid-fire shots are being fired at her and she just gets behind them.”
The eight senior team members: Bennett, Chiasson, Strobel, defender Anya Lucey, attackers Meghan McLachlan and Maddie Colledge and midfielder Marley Scala were honored by head coach Katie McConnell and assistant coach Nikki Prestiano on Saturday alongside those close to them.
In addition to being the Senior Day game, last weekend’s matchup was also played in support of student-athlete mental health. On both days, the teams warmed up in shirts featuring a green ribbon symbolizing mental health and well-being. This initiative comes following a League-wide commitment to student-athlete mental health led by the Patriot League’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SACC).
The women’s lacrosse team has implemented new mindfulness exercises into its daily practice and game routines to help players stay grounded.
“Our coaches and everyone on our team is super vocal about the importance of mental health … performing well on the field is like ninety percent mental,” Bennett said.
The Leopards will make their next appearance tomorrow when they travel to Baltimore to face off against No. 11 Loyola Maryland at noon.