The women’s lacrosse team (3-5 overall, 0-1 Patriot League) lost to Holy Cross (6-2 overall, 2-0 Patriot League) by a score of 12-11 in a heartbreaker this past Saturday at Fisher Stadium. This was the team’s first Patriot League game of the season.
The Leopards have shown marked improvement from last year, beating Eastern Michigan University (3-4 overall) and just barely falling to Villanova University (4-5 overall) in the final seconds after losing to the Wildcats by 14 goals just over a year ago. The team looked to build on this promising start to the season as it entered Patriot League play.
Lafayette started the game strong, notching five first-quarter goals against the Crusaders to take an early four-goal lead. Junior attacker Haleigh Albrecht netted two goals while fellow attackers junior Sara Rogers and sophomore Kristin Igneri as well as sophomore midfielder Kendra Daly found the back of the net in the first quarter for the Leopards.
Head coach Katie McConnell was happy with the team’s first-quarter performance.
“I think we came out on fire and I think we really controlled the game from the start,” McConnell said. “I think we really implemented what we’ve been trying to do.”
Senior goalkeeper Lexie Coldiron, who tallied her 400th career save during the game, noted the importance of keeping Holy Cross out of the goal early.
“I would say after just the first quarter being able to hold them to one goal [and] extending our own lead really helped build confidence going into the rest of the game,” she said.
Coldiron made seven saves in total during the game.
She highlighted some key players that helped the Leopards fight hard against the Crusaders, a team that has only dropped two games this season.
“Kate Marrs, on the draw, she won a lot of drills for us, which was huge,” Coldiron said. “That can really kind of sway the game depending on how many offensive versus defensive sets you have to do. Sara Rogers put a lot of goals home for us, which helped us develop a lead and Kristin Igneri also got in the game and got her first and second career goal.”
While the Leopards held at a 10-5 lead midway through the third quarter, the Crusaders responded by scoring four consecutive goals to put pressure on the home team. The Leopards would manage to score one more goal in the game, tallied by junior Sophia Spallone.
The Crusaders would continue their hot streak in the fourth quarter, tying the game at 11-11. With 31 seconds left, the Crusaders scored the final goal to win 12-11.
Despite the final score, McConnell is proud of many aspects of the team’s showing.
“We really stuck to the game plan for a majority of the game which was nice to see,” McConnell said. “I think offense, their shot selections were great, and I think defense really focused on getting their body there and their crashes looked great.”
“As a team, they really fought together, which was really nice to see,” she added.
McConnell believes the game is a great lesson for the team.
“I think we need to improve on our overall clock awareness, and taking care of the ball in crucial moments, but I think Holy Cross and Villanova were great learning experiences for that,” McConnell said. “So I think if we can fix those two things, we’re gonna have a really great rest of our season.”
Coldiron agreed the team can improve on time management and taking more control throughout the game.
“Holy Cross was obviously our first Patriot League game [and] the rest of our games are Patriot League games … so I think we really want to make those changes so that way we can turn these really close games into wins,” Coldiron said.
Women’s lacrosse plays again tomorrow at noon at Army West Point.