The second-seeded Amherst women’s lacrosse team cut the Polar Bears’ season short with an 11-5 NESCAC quarterfinal victory this past Saturday afternoon.
This is the fifth NESCAC tournament pairing between the two schools and Amherst improved its record against Bowdoin to 3-2 in tournament play and its overall record to 15-1 record. The Polar Bears ended their season with an 8-7 record.
“The record is not indicative of how strong our team is,” said Genna Warner ’15.
Play between the two teams was relatively even. The game started out with Caroline Holliday of Amherst scoring a quick goal, netting a wrap-around two minutes into the game.
Betsy Sachs ’14 tied up the game when she took immediate advantage of an Amherst foul 18 minutes into play, successfully converting a free-position attempt.
The Lord Jeffs quickly rallied back, with Holliday once again sneaking a shot past Isabel Sippel ’15 at the inside post with 11:41 left in the half. The Polar Bears responded when Lindsay Picard ’16 beat Amherst’s goalie, Christy Forrest, only three minutes later.
“It was a low-scoring game and everybody knew we needed to pick up the pace a little bit,” Picard said of her goal. “Everyone knew in the attack that we had to keep the ball moving, and that is what we did.”
Unfortuantely, just 1:08 after Picard’s goal, Elizabeth Ludlow linked up with Priscilla Tyler to put Amherst back on top, 3-2. At 5:50, Krista Zsitvay increased Amherst’s lead to 4-2, bouncing a shot into the Bowdoin goal. Zsitvay had her second score of the day less than a minute later, receiving a good feed from Amherst’s Devin O’ Connor. The Lady Jeffs struck another blow with 11 seconds left in the half, when Rachel Passarelli dodged a couple of Bowdoin defenders before ripping a high shot into the net. The first half ended with Amherst leading 6-2.
“There was a momentum shift, and it was hard to swing it back in our favor,” Warner said of the last few minutes of the first half. “They got too many goals on us, and it was hard to get it back.”
The Polar Bears refused to give up hope at the beginning of the second half.
“We came out knowing that we needed to work our hardest and get everything we had” Picard said. “The momentum shift just made us want to work harder.”
Motivated by the four-goal halftime deficit, Taylor Wilson ’15 fired a low shot into the left side of the cage with 21:10 remaining in the game. The would-be rally was cut short when Amherst’s Mia Haughton made a move toward the net before tucking a shot inside the near post, extending the Lady Jeff’s lead to 7-3.
The Polar Bears were unfazed though, as Jordan Smith ’14 put another goal on the board at 12:55. Smith’s goal was answered by Meghan Mills of Amherst, who scored consecutive goals inside of the 10-minute mark to further increase her team’s mounting lead.
Going a perfect 13-for-13 on clears, Amherst finished the game with a 27-8 shot advantage and a 14-5 edge in ground balls. The game marked the end of the season for the Polar Bears.
“We really have been getting better this whole season, and we were just getting into our stride,” Warner said. “We played as hard as we could. Our record does not show how much hard work we’ve put into our practices and play.”
Although disappointed in the outcome of the season, the team was not let down by their effort-level or the player improvements made throughout the season.
“In our first Amherst game, transitions were not great,” Warner said. “It was a night and day difference between this game against Amherst versus our past game.”
While the loss to Amherst was disappointing, the Polar Bears face an even greater disappointment with the loss of four seniors: Molly Popolizio, Jordan Smith, Betsy Sachs and Erica Nangeroni. Each athlete was an important force helping to keep the Bears in contention this past year.
“Our seniors were amazing, they loved the team—they could either make all of us crack up, or make us really focused, calm and motivated before the game,” Warner said.“I am going to miss them a lot.”
Confident in their depth and prowess, the team and players were motivated by this disappointing season and are sure to come out even stronger and better next season.