On Saturday, April 14, the Colgate women’s lacrosse team hosted the American University Eagles at Beyer-Small Field, triumphing over the visiting team with a 20-10 win. This victory was a rewarding bounceback for the women after being handed a discouraging defeat by Lehigh the previous weekend.

“I’m really proud of the team, especially offensively. We had a rough go against Lehigh and we put a lot of pressure on the team to respond back this week. We implemented a few things we’d been forgetting and I’m proud of the communication amongst the team on the sideline,” head coach Heather Young said.

In the first half, the Raiders scored 12 goals, putting four points on the board in under four minutes. The Eagles battled back, scoring six goals in the first 15 minutes and coming within one point of the Raiders before the home team scored its last five goals of the half. Despite scoring one more goal before halftime, American was unable to claim the lead and the Raiders continued to extend their lead by scoring five more goals. At the half, the score stood at 12-7 in favor of Colgate.

The Raiders opened the second half with a similar fervor, quickly scoring five consecutive goals in the first twelve minutes of the period. With ten minutes left in the contest, Colgate scored two more goals. Though the Eagles managed to score three more goals throughout the second half, they were unable to keep up with their host.

The team’s goal total from the weekend was their highest since 2011, when the Raiders scored 20 goals in a victory over Bucknell. Sophomore attacker Payton Gabriel led the Raiders in goals, scoring a career-high of five. Senior midfielder Natalie Washuta also reached a career-high, scoring four times. Senior attack player Kristen Brigagliano and senior captain and midfielder Haley O’Hanlon both notched hattricks by scoring three times, while also snagging two assists each.

Other notable performances came from first-year attack player Danielle Van Calcar, who notched a season-high of nine draw controls and three groundballs along with two goals and an assist and sophomore goalkeeper Samantha Croston, who had eight saves and four groundballs.

“Putting in a really balanced effort in both halves was huge today. That’s something we really wanted to do offensively. Scoring that many goals means the offense is definitely clicking and were all on the same page, which was something we were pushing with them this week,” Young said.

“Last year was a tough one so we’ve worked so hard and put a lot of effort in practice, and stuck to the game plan. Last week was a tough loss to Lehigh but we came back strong today,” Gabriel said.

After this victory, the Raiders’ overall record moved to 9-4, while they improved to 4-2 in the Patriot League. Next up for the team is a Patriot League matchup against the Loyola Greyhounds, which will take place here in Hamilton Saturday, April 21. This is the team’s second-to-last regular season game before the Patriot League Tournament, which is set to begin on Tuesday, May 1.

Contact Victoria Holt at [email protected].