The Colgate women’s lacrosse team, after a rocky start to the season, had been on a roll entering last weekend. Atop the Patriot League standings with a perfect 5-0 record, a victory over Holy Cross would have secured the regular season title. Unfortunately, things did not work out quite as smoothly as they had hoped.

Holy Cross has been equally dominant this season, entering their clash with Colgate undefeated in the Patriot League. The stakes of the game could not have been higher; the victor would claim the regular season title and earn the right to host the league tournament. With Spring Party Weekend slated this weekend, the same as the tournament, a Colgate victory would have ensured a raucous and one-sided crowd for the Raiders.

After jumping out to an early 3-1 lead, the Raiders traded punches with the Crusaders, entering halftime knotted at five. Holy Cross scored the first goal of the second half, but junior Megan Janson answered for Colgate, tying the game at six. The Crusaders, however, proved to be too strong down the stretch as they held the Raiders scoreless for the game’s final 20:20 and scored the final three goals of the contest to take a dramatic 9-7 victory. The loss snapped Colgate’s amazing run atop the Patriot League, as their league winning streak finally came to an end after an unbelievable 22 in a row.

“As a team, we made a large number of errors and played poorly overall,” senior co-Captain Heidi Ross said.”After three years of being undefeated in league play, however, we were bound for a game like this.I’m actually glad we got it out of our system last week, instead of next weekend during the tournament.”

Leading the way for the Raiders on the defensive end was senior goalkeeper Sue Bielamowicz, who made nine saves in the defeat.

Continuing her offensive dominance, senior co-Captain Kelly Winning recorded a hat trick. Senior Katie McVeigh, juniors Tara Casey and Janson, and sophomore Jess Vander Meulen all added a goal apiece for the Raiders.

With the loss, Colgate will travel back to Worcester for a semifinal matchup against American on Saturday. The last time these two teams played, Colgate routed the Eagles 17-3. The Raiders will be vying for their third consecutive Patriot League crown and a return trip to the NCAA Tournament.

“It’s sad to not be hosting, after two years of doing so,” Ross said, “but being put into second place is a huge motivator. We have to go back to Holy Cross and prove that we are still, by far, the best team in our league.”

Echoing the thoughts of her co-captain, Winning said, “Of course we are disappointed we are not hosting the tournament this year, but that is only a minor setback.Hosting is simply a nice addition; ultimately we are looking for a championship and it does not matter if it happens on our field or at Holy Cross.Everything so far this season has been leading up to next weekend and we can’t make any judgments until after the weekend.”

In an anticlimactic second game of the weekend, Colgate traveled south to Storrs, Connecticut to take on the Huskies of UConn. Unfortunately, drained after their battle with Holy Cross, the Raiders were unable to end their regular season with a victory, falling 15-13. They did not go down without a fight, however, as they came back from a four goal deficit to tie the game at 13 with only 3:36 remaining, but the Huskies scored the final two goals of the game to capture the victory.

With the regular season in the books, Colgate eagerly awaits their chance to make up for their lone Patriot League blemish in the tournament this weekend. Their final regular season record was 9-8 and 5-1 in League play.