CLERMONT, FL - Williams women's lacrosse fell 6-5 to Conn. College this afternoon in a conference battle. The Ephs now stand at 3-3 overall on the season, with an 0-3 record in the NESCAC. The Camels are also 3-3, but stand at 1-3 in the conference.
Williams was led by Sam Weinstein with two goals. Lacey Hankin, Margie Fulton, and Emily Jablonski also scored for the Ephs. Goalie Ali Piltch had 10 stops in the defeat.
Bri Miller and Lowell Abbot each scored two for the Camels, and goalie Kelsey Burke had 10 saves.
Williams opened the game strong, going up 3-0 in the first 16 minutes on an impressive shot from Weinstein and free position attempts from Hankin and Jablonski. Abbot pulled one back for the Camels before the break, but the Ephs entered half time up 3-1.
The Ephs stretched their lead coming out of half time on another solo effort from Weinstein only 45 seconds in. The Camels scored two in the next ten minutes to make the contest 4-3, but a goal from Fulton put Williams up 5-3 with 14:47 to play.
The final ten minutes, Conn. College controlled the play. The Ephs picked up four yellow cards, and the Camels were able to capitalize on three out of four opportunities with Williams a man down. The first goal, with 8:02 to play, came on a free position shot. The final two goals were unassisted, with the first coming from Ashley Crutchfield with 5:52 to play, the second from Miller with only eight seconds left in the game.
"It was really frustrating to see us play that way," said Williams head coach Chris Mason. "Our ball handling hurt us the most, and so did our shooting and decision making with the ball ... [Both] were bad. Defensively, I think we did a great job, and [Goalie] Ali [Piltch] was phenomenal, holding it together for us to get going on offense, and we never did. We didn't take advantage of our opportunities, and shot high into the goalie's stick over and over ... Right after half, they ran a great play, and Sam had a great low shot and scored, but then we kept shooting high. She had one save low, and a lot of saves high. We have to keep working on faking high and shooting low.
"The thing I was frustrated in the defensive end was when we would get a check we would let one of our players go for it instead of having someone to help our first player ... We just didn't have the aggressiveness we normally have jumping all over those balls," she added. "That was the only frustrating thing in the defensive end. Otherwise, we did a great job, and Ali was fantastic. When we had the ball, we weren't handling it as well as we need to ... On offense, we mostly had a lot of bad shots high into the goalie's stick."
Williams will now look to bounce back in the conference with two home games next weekend. They will face off with Bates at 11 a.m. on Saturday and with Bowdoin at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
