AMHERST, MASS. -- No. 24 Williams women's lacrosse suffered a rivalry game defeat on the road against the No. 12 Amherst Mammoths on Saturday afternoon. The Ephs clung to a lead for most of the first three quarters, but could not hold off the Mammoths during a decisive fourth quarter run. The 11-8 loss drops Williams to 5-5 on the season and 2-4 in the NESCAC, while Amherst improves to 8-2 on the year and 4-2 in the NESCAC.
HIGHLIGHTS
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Claudia Russell struck first for the Ephs, depositing a free-position shot to give Williams a 1-0 lead with 13:18 to play in the first quarter.
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Only 36 seconds later, Amherst's Clara Sosa got Amherst on the board with her fifteenth goal of the season.
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Williams responded quickly, as Russell found Franny Donohue to put the Ephs ahead 2-1 with 11:43 to go in the first. Donohue then converted a free-position shot with 9:39 to play in the first to extend the lead to 3-1.
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Ainsley Abel, after hitting the post on a shot attempt, drew a foul and was able to find the back of the net on her free-position shot, giving Williams a 4-1 lead with 8:11 left in the first quarter.
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A nearly five minute scoreless period was broken by Amherst's Sosa, who fired home a free-position attempt to cut the gap to 4-2.
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Donohue continued to make impact plays, forcing a foul and then scoring on her free-position attempt to get herself a hat-trick and push the Williams advantage to 5-2 with just 1:39 left to play in the first quarter.
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A frantic flurry from Amherst gave the Mammoths serious momentum to close the first quarter. First, Emma Crotty forced a turnover and pssed to Emily Peterson for a nice goal with 18 seconds left in the first. On the next possession, Crotty passed to Bridget Darcy, who beat the first quarter buzzer by two seconds to reduce the Williams lead to 5-4.
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The Mammoths were able to strike first in the second quarter to tie the game, despite a nine minute drought in scoring, as Mia Raven finished on a good find from Kate Becker.
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The Ephs got back into the scoring column just 44 seconds later, when Katy McCullough deposited a goal from inside off a feed from Cece Tauber.
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Amherst tied the score going into halftime, taking advantage of a woman-up opportunity. Morgan Lebek forced a foul inside and finished a free-position shot with 1:06 to play in the half.
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To open the second half, Donohue picked quickly up where she had left off, scoring her fourth goal of the game and 23rd of the season to put the Ephs ahead 7-6 with 14:01 to go in the third quarter.
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Once again, Amherst took some momentum to end a quarter. Emily Petersen tallied her 26th goal of the season to tie the game at 7-7 with just thirty seconds to play in the third.
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Amherst utilized steady defense and a trio of goals to take control of the game in the fourth quarter. Sosa gave the Mammoths their first lead of the game with 11:55 to play in the quarter, then Peterson got her hat-trick on a pass from Raven with 7:00 to go, and Bridget Finley finished off the decisive run with a goal with 5:04 to go, which gave Amherst a 10-7 lead.
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Russell netted her hat-trick on a nice transition play to pull the Ephs back into the game, making the score 10-8 with 2:43 remaining.
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Peterson was able to ice the game for Amherst, scoring her fourth goal of the game with just over a minute remaining. The Mammoths were then able to control the possession for the final minute and run out the clock en route to an 11-8 win.
NOTES
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Donohue led the Ephs in points and goals, with four.
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Goalie Caroline Pratt finished the game with four saves for Williams.
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The loss is the fourth of the season for Williams by three goals or less.
The Ephs next compete on Wednesday, at home against Hamilton in a game that begins at 6:30 p.m. Hamilton is coming off of a 14-7 loss to Trinity.
