The women's lacrosse team crushed Wesleyan on Saturday, besting the Cardinals by 11 goals in an 18-7 victory. On Wednesday, however, Bowdoin lost to No. 8 Colby in a close 10-9 game.
At Colby, the Mules took a 6-5 lead into halftime before the teams each scored four goals in the second half. Carolyn Gorajek '13 and Liz Clegg '12 led the team with three goals each, while Katie Stewart '12 also had a strong performance with one goal, three caused turnovers and two ground balls.
Against Wesleyan, midfielder Taylor Wilson '15 sunk three goals while Katie Herter '12 scored two. Goalie Tara Connolly '13 stopped eight of Wesleyan's shots to clinch the victory.
Clegg was the star player of the game, netting a game-high five goals. According to Head Coach Liz Grote, Clegg had been working on her shooting all week, coming to practices early and keeping her sights set on winning every game.
"We've really stepped up the tempo at practice," said Grote. "The girls are learning to play with confidence and speed—characteristics we knew we had at the beginning of the season but are only now fully realizing. The girls' desire to win together is stronger than ever, and that was key against Wesleyan."
"Freshman Nat Moore has really stepped up on defense," added Grote. "Our regular starting defender is injured, and Moore has taken her place and proven herself to be a strong player."
After making it to the national championship last year, Clegg said she knows that end-of-season success does not come easily.
"We are at an important spot in our season where we need to go into every game focused and not look ahead of ourselves," Clegg said, adding that Bowdoin's victory over Wesleyan should be indicative of the rest of the season.
The team has two more regular season games, one against the University of New England and the other against Tufts. Bowdoin (8-5, 5-4 NESCAC) is currently in fifth place in the conference, behind Amherst, Middlebury, Colby, and undefeated Trinity..
The first playoff game is scheduled for next Saturday and the conference championship will be held on Sunday, May 6.
In the meantime, Grote said it will be necessary for the women to work on improving their speed and confidence. These are two things that she thinks will make or break the year, and may ultimately determine the fate of the NESCAC championship.