The Colgate Women’s Lacrosse team faced Wagner College on Sunday, March 3 and fell by just one goal at the end of the game, losing 12-11. The Raiders put up a good fight throughout the entire game and showed a strong team effort on the offensive and defensive ends.

The Raiders started off the game strong with a goal from sophomore midfielder Annelise Kotz off a feed from sophomore at- tacker Danielle Van Calcar to go ahead 1-0 just 1:17 into the first half. After this opening goal, the game was a game of runs. Wagner responded to Colgate’s goal, but then the Raiders fought back just 41 seconds later with a goal from junior midfielder Alissa Masini. The Raiders offensive kept pressing and remained ahead of Wagner by at least one goal for the majority of the game. Wagner got back into the game by tying up the game at 8-8 on a free position shot with 19:34 remaining in the second half.

Junior attack Lindsay West had an excellent showing for the Raiders in the second half, earning her third career hat trick to keep the offensive pressure on Wagner. However, Wagner was able to rally back into the game with back-to-back goals that put them ahead 11- 10 for the first time since the opening whistle. Despite going down, the Raiders persisted and junior midfielder Noelle Patterson put the Raiders within one goal with just 3:00 remaining on the clock. Unfortunately, the Raiders were not able to convert another goal and time expired with 12-11 as the final score.

In addition to this strong offensive play, Colgate’s defensive end was reliable throughout the entire game. They had a strong focus on forcing high pressure on the ball resulting in many forced turnovers to get the ball back for their attack to convert on the offensive end. In the cage, junior goalkeeper Samantha Croston set a new season high of 15 saves for the Raiders, tallying one more save from her previous high of 14 saves against UMass Lowell on February 23. This 15-save performance is just one save away from her career-high of 16 saves against Boston University last season. Croston has had an incredibly strong start to her junior season, making a huge impact on the defensive end to keep the Raiders in many close games in their season so far.

“Another tough day for the Raiders. I’m proud of the way we fought until the clock read 00:00, but we have to find a way to keep the momentum our way when we have a lead. Samantha Croston had a great day in the cage to help us stay in the game, and Lindsay West had a couple of clutch goals on the offensive end,” said Head Coach Liv Beville. “I’m confident that we will learn from today and continue to get better as individuals players as a team moving forward.”

“I think we made some improvements on the offensive end which is something that we have been working on in practice, but unfortunately, we couldn’t come away with the win. We are all really looking forward to Cornell…and are excited for the opportunity to face a tough opponent. We had a close game with them last year and are excited to face them again,” senior captain and midfielder Madeline Barcia said.

Colgate continued to play this week with a road trip to Cornell University on Tuesday, March 5.

Contact Kate Kelly at [email protected].