The women’s lacrosse team dropped a pair of games this past week, first falling 18-7 to Holy Cross in Saturday’s conference opener before dropping a tight 15-13 Wednesday contest to George Washington University, despite a late-game comeback attempt.
The Leopards (0-1 Patriot League, 4-4 overall) entered Saturday’s home matchup riding a three-game win streak. Sophomore midfielder Evelyn Guyer struck first four minutes in, only for the Crusaders (1-0 Patriot League, 3-4 overall) to answer 19 seconds later. Sophomore midfielder Sadie Martiesian and senior attacker Olivia Hover then delivered back‑to‑back goals to build a 3-1 lead, but Holy Cross closed the gap to head into the second quarter tied at three apiece.
Hover opened the second quarter with her second score of the day, but Holy Cross seized control with a 4-0 run over five minutes of play. Freshman attacker Georgia Swarr and senior attacker Kristin Igneri stopped the run with consecutive finishes, but the Crusaders ripped off a buzzer beater to seize an 8-6 lead at halftime.
Holy Cross broke the game open in the second half, breaking off for a 10-0 run that saw nine different Crusaders score. Despite the Leopards outshooting Holy Cross 16-14 in the half, it took until 13 seconds were left in the game for Martiesian to score the Maroon and White’s sole goal of the second half, giving the Crusaders a decisive victory.
Despite the loss, the Leopards stayed nearly even with Holy Cross across several metrics, barely being outpaced 33-30 in shots and 29-28 in ground balls.
Wednesday’s matchup against George Washington (6–2 overall) saw the Revolutionaries come out firing with a 5-0 run within the first 10 minutes. Sophomore midfielder Isabelle Pohmer broke the drought in the final minute of the opening frame, sending the Maroon and White into the second quarter trailing 5-1.
George Washington proceeded to pour on the scores, piecing together another five-goal quarter. Senior midfielder Olivia Kelley, Martiesian and freshman midfielder Emma Toner all converted on shots for the Leopards in the frame, but the Revolutionaries widened their lead to 10-4 at the break.
The Leopards broke off a 3-0 scoring run in the third quarter after allowing two more Revolutionary goals, with Swarr, Pohmer and Igneri commanding the Leopard offense over four minutes of play. George Washington retaliated with three consecutive goals of its own to close out the quarter strong, leaving the Leopards in a 14-7 hole.
Following another strike from the Revolutionaries to open the final 15 minutes, the Leopard defense applied pressure on the George Washington attack to keep them scoreless for the remainder of the game. Kelley, Toner and Igneri found the net early on to pull within five, leading to a six-minute scoring drought from both teams.
Junior midfielder Bailey Gurley rattled one off to spark another surge, followed by Pohmer’s third goal and a score from sophomore midfielder Annie Madden with just over two minutes left. The climb back proved to be too steep, however, as the Leopards could not find the last two goals needed to force overtime.
The Leopards will look to even up their Patriot League record in Saturday’s road matchup against Boston University (0-1 Patriot League, 4-4 overall).