Furious Williams Comeback Comes up Short in 9-8 Loss to No. 3 Colby

The No. 25 Williams women's lacrosse team put up a valiant effort on Senior Day against the No. 3 Colby Mules. Down by as many as five goals in the second half, and by four with just over three minutes remaining in the game, the Ephs scored a late flurry of goals to cut the lead to one and even had a chance to tie the game on a last-second shot attempt. Alas, the Mules were able to justable survive in the 9-8 thriller, moving their record to 12-2 and 7-2 in the NESCAC. With the dramatic loss, the Ephs fall to 7-7 on the season and 3-6 in the NESCAC.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Stella Regan opened the scoring for Colby, rebounding an unsuccessful free-position effort from Ainsley Dion and depositing the ball into the back of the net to give the Mules a 1-0 lead with 13:57 to play in the first quarter.

• Dion found the goal next, finishing a long Colby possession with a nice shot to make the score 2-0 and force an early Williams timeout with 11:02 to go in the first.

• A few minutes after the timeout, the Ephs struck back. Reece Willison scooped up a ground ball and drove to the middle, slinging a shot low and past Colby's goalie to cut the gap to 2-1 with 7:12 to go in the first.

• Colby responded with a free-position goal from Julia Jardina, who sprinted middle on her attempt and converted high to restore a two goal lead with 5:09 left in the first quarter.

• The Ephs got the last word in the first quarter, as Anna Miller hit Claudia Russell curling around into the middle. Russell caught the pass, took two more steps into the middle, and fired an open look in the left side of the net to make the score 3-2 with 2:20 left.

• Colby struck first in the second quarter, when Gennie Littlejohn drove to her left and squeezed a contested effort low and by Pratt with 10:42 to go in the second.

• The Mules made the lead 5-2 with 7:15 to play in the half. Dion's shot looked like it was saved by Pratt, but the refs convened and ruled that it actually bounced past the line despite Pratt's lunging effort.

• With under a minute to play, Colby extended the lead further. Taking advantage of a woman-up advantage, Littlejohn connected with Dion inside, who whipped a shot into the top right corner to give the Mules a 6-2 lead going into halftime.

• Dion added to the Colby lead with the first goal of the second half, taking a pass from Regan and depositing a perfect shot into the bottom left corner with 7:20 to play in the third.

• Williams called a time-out, then scored immediately. McKenna Dwyer drove methodically from the right, then seized an opening and fired into the lower left side of the goal to make the score 7-3 with 6:41 to play in the third quarter.

• Despite strong defensive play from the Ephs, they could not break through the rest of the quarter, and the teams went into the fourth with the scoreline still 7-3.

• Russell created momentum for Williams to begin the fourth quarter, making a hard drive to the left from the top of the arc and finishing a strong shot into the right netting, cutting the lead to 7-4 with 13:35 to go.

• Then, Juliet Kilborn found a cutting Donohue on the left side, and Donohue flipped it into the top left corner to reduce the deficit to 7-5 with 11:38 to play, and forced a Colby timeout.

• After over six minutes in which the Ephs had good opportunities to score, Colby finished two goals in short succession to seemingly ice the game. First, on a woman-up opportunity, Julia Maimonis got open in the middle, Kins Helmer passed it to her, and Maimonis deposited the goal low and right. Then, a minute later, Maimones scored again, this time off an assist from Charlotte Michener, to put Colby ahead 9-5 with 4:36 remaining.

• However the Ephs weren't finished. Donohue forced a foul, and fired a rocket from straightaway into the top of the net on her free-position attempt to cut the gap to 9-6 with 3:06 remaining.

• Next, Anna Miller hit Katy McCullough inside. McCullough made a tough, high catch in traffic, then freed herself in front of the goal and dumped the ball into the bottom of the net, making the score 9-7 with 2:32 to play.

• After Colby won the ensuing draw, Grace Collier forced a key turnover to give the Ephs possession. Recognizing that little time remained, Willison drove hard from the left side into the middle and finished back across her body into the left corner, cutting the deficit to 9-8 with 42 seconds to play.

• Williams won the next draw, but then lost control of the ball as it hit the ground. In the ensuing skirmish, Willison came up with the ball at midfield with around ten seconds left. She flung a long pass to McCullough, who caught the ball and drove towards the goal. As the clock expired, McCullough was able to get a bouncing shot off from a bit outside on the right, but her desperation effort was snagged by Colby's Jillian Kane to preserve a 9-8 win for Colby and deny an impressive comeback attempt by the Ephs.
  
  

NOTES

• The Ephs out-shot Colby 33-28 in the game, and had 22 shots in the second half compared to the Mules' nine.

• Williams scored five goals in the fourth quarter, two more than the team had scored all game up to that point. 

• The five fourth quarter goals are tied for the most fourth quarter goals Williams has scored all year.

• The loss is the fifth of the season by two goals or fewer for Williams.

• On her Senior Day, Russell co-led the team in points and goals.

• Collier led the Ephs with four ground balls in her final home game.

• Pratt finished with 11 saves for Williams.

Up next, the Ephs head to No. 1 Middlebury for their final game of the regular season. The game will start at 6 pm on Wednesday. Middlebury is 13-0 on the season, coming off of a 16-15 victory over No. 2 Tufts.