MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – Coming off a disappointing lose to Tufts last Saturday, the No. 11 nationally ranked Wesleyan women's lacrosse team bounced back in a major way, defeating No. 13 Hamilton by a score of 18-8 from Smith Field on Wednesday night. In an impressive performance that Wesleyan (10-3, 5-3 NESCAC) dominated from start to finish, the Cardinals earned an important win that has big playoff seeding implications while the Continentals (6-4, 4-4 NESCAC) lose for the fourth time in the last five games.
 
After watching the Jumbos jump out to an early lead over the weekend, Wesleyan flipped the script and saw their defense dominate while the offense struck for four unanswered goals in the final 3+ minutes of the second quarter as Wesleyan led 9-3 at the half.
 
From the start, Wesleyan seemed to be firing on all cylinders as Olivia Lai '23, who was face guarded against Tufts and held to no points on Saturday, scored her first of five on the night to get the scoring started just 52 seconds into play. Kiara Tangney '25, who is starting to make the most of her recent uptick in minutes played, broke a scoreless drought for both teams that lasted over nine minutes.
 
Hamilton scored for the first and only time in the first quarter off the stick of Eva Abel with 3:51 left in the frame before Tangney again factored on a goal, this time registering her first career assist on a feed to Molly Greer '24 who made it 3-1 after one.
 
Wesleyan really put their foot on the gas in the second quarter wherein the Cardinals outscored Hamilton 6-2 to take the six-goal lead into halftime. Kate Balicki '23 opened the scoring in the quarter with a player-up goal while Abbey Logan '22 was left wide open in front off a reset to make it 5-1 Cardinals. Hamilton managed consecutive goals over seven minutes apart to cut Wesleyan's lead to 5-3 but a key last-minute 4-0 run broke the game open. Balicki scored her second of the quarter before Lai came through with a natural hat trick, the last two coming off free position shots, to cap the scoring in the first half.
 
The two sides traded goals throughout the third quarter as the Continentals still trailed 12-7 heading into the fourth, but the Cardinals then put the game out of reach with a 4-0 run to open the fourth quarter. Lai fed Kendall Mittleman '23 for a goal 1:06 into the fourth before Gil Horst '23 came up with a sensational shot into the upper corner of the net.
 
Lai put in her fifth of the day to make it 15-7 Cardinals before Horst scored again, this time beating her defender off a reset, to give her a two-goal game. Kaitlyn McMullan '22 scored twice off free position attempts in the final minutes to cap the scoring at 18-8.
 
Wesleyan outshot Hamilton in every quarter and 39-18 for the game. The Cardinals also shined on the draws, earning a 21-8 (+13) advantage in draw controls for the game which is easily a season-high for Wesleyan, besting the previous high mark of 15 set twice earlier this season. In fact, Wesleyan's 21 draw controls matches a single-game program record first set on March 13, 2017 in a 21-10 home win over Skidmore.
 
Lai led the way, matching her career-high with six points while setting a career-high with five goals. Greer posted a career-high three points (two goals, one assist) as this marked the second multi-goal game of her career. Four other Cardinals tallied three-point games but it was Tangney who starred as the first-year set career-highs across the board in points (three), goals (two), ground balls (three) and draw controls (seven) while she also dished out her first career assist.
 
On the defensive end, Indigo Pellegrini de Paur '21, G'22 led the way with game-highs across the board in ground balls (five), caused turnovers (three) and draw controls (seven). Maeve Olson '25 tallied four ground balls and three caused turnovers.
 
Wesleyan now turns to a big Saturday afternoon NESCAC contest at home against Williams at Noon. The Cardinals are vying for their third Little 3 title in the last four seasons and will do so on Senior Day Saturday.