Madeline Hubbard ’19
On Saturday, the Smith Lacrosse team took on Wellesley’s “the Blue.” Wellesley had bested Smith in the past 33 matches, but this year’s squad was up to the challenge. Sarah Price, the starting goalie for the Pioneers, said, “We beat the 33 year streak by playing a great game of lacrosse. We had great midfield transitions and settled offense. We never backed down. We were always supporting each other, and we always had each-others backs.”
The pioneers went into the game with a 4-1 season record, coming off a win against Southern Vermont College. Their last NEWMAC game had ended unfortunately, with a 15-21 loss to the United States Coast Guard Academy.
Wellesley started the game with a goal, nine minutes in. A minute later, Smith answered with a goal of it’s own, scored by Gigi Macdonald ’19. Wellesley was quick to fire back, using their attack to stymie the defense and hammer in two goals. Smith and Wellesley continued to battle, peppering the goal with shots. The teams scored back and forth ending the first half tied 5-5, leaving the fans on the edge of their seats and the teams fired up to dominate the second half.
Smith started the half with an unmatched intensity, scoring 4 goals and taking a 9-5 lead. The teams worked earnestly on getting to the ball first, and gathering up any ground balls. Wellesley, however, took advantage of draw control to maintain possession off the draw and look for scoring opportunities. 11 minutes into the second half, Wellesley answered with two back-to-back goals. With less than 10 minutes left, the teams were close, and with a card called on Smith, Wellesley scored on the power play. The score was 12-11, “the Blue” were breathing down the Smith team’s necks. Captain Caroline Myran ’18, widened the gap with 2 goals at 2:03 and 1:25. Myran scored their 100 points in this game, ending the match with a whopping 6 goals. Wellesley was unable to close the gap and the final score was 14-12.
Senior Captain Julia Hamilton ’18 commented, “Saturday was a great team effort. Our defense stepped up to shut down some of their top players. Shout out to Caroline to hitting their 100th career point!” Myran commented on the big win, “In previous years, it’s been close, but this time we played a full 60 minutes with relentless execution of our defense.” Myran adds that defense was given a specific defensive strategy for the Wellesley game, and they stuck to it.
Looking forward to the rest of the season, Myran thinks that the key to success is “to keep working and improving. Babson will be a very competitive team and if nothing else, a learning experience and a chance for the first years to see some good competition.” The team have three away games coming up as they face off against Framingham State University, Western Connecticut State and on Saturday, NEWMAC rivals, the Babson Beavers.
