WATERVILLE, Me. – After overcoming an early four-goal deficit, coming all the way back to lead with 11:09 remaining, the No. 7 ranked Wesleyan women's lacrosse team couldn't find the knockout blow as No. 12 Colby pulled out a 13-12 victory on Sunday afternoon. The Cardinals (5-1, 1-1 NESCAC) lose for the first time this season while Colby (2-3, 1-2 NESCAC) picks up a much-needed league win.
 
Playing their fourth game in eight days, two of which played thousands of miles across the country, the Cardinals had a lot working against them and it showed in the early going as Colby outscored Wesleyan 6-1 in a span of 10:10 in the opening quarter.
 
The Cardinals began to pull some momentum back late on in the first quarter, with Gil Horst '23 scoring her second of the day before Kate Balicki '23 finished a feed from Laura Baine '24 to make it 6-4 Mules heading into the second quarter.
 
After scoring the final two goals of the first quarter, the Cardinals scored the first two goals of the second quarter to tie the score at 6-6. Olivia Lai '23 scored a pair of free position goals just nine seconds apart, as the game completely flipped after the Mules stormed out to the four-goal lead.
 
With the score favoring Colby 8-7 at the half, the Mules threatened to pull away, scoring twice to open the second half while holding the Cardinals without a goal for more than 16 minutes of play. Breaking through midway through the third was Lai, as her third goal kickstarted a 4-0 Wesleyan run that resulted in a 11-10 Cardinal lead with 11:09 left.
 
A costly yellow card soon followed the go-ahead Cardinal goal from Gil Horst as Colby cashed in with a player-up goal from Elizabeth Hennessey. Just over a minute later, Cami McDonald scored her first goal of the season to put the Mules ahead by one. The game continued to swing back and forth as Bridget Horst '26 fired home the game-tying goal with 5:34 left on a free position, but Colby again answered right back, this time Paige Saudek netted what would be the game-winning goal.
 
Wesleyan's defense held strong over the next few minutes, gaining possession back with a little over a minute to play. The Cardinals then drew a free position attempt with 34 seconds left, but Lai saw her shot attempt go wide. Then off the restart, Gil Horst also had an attempt go wide and the ensuing ground ball was picked up by Ainsley Dion, thus ending the game.
 
Lai put in five goals, going 3-for-4 on free position shots, as this marked a new season-high for the senior attack. Baine added a season-high three assists while Gil Horst scored a season-high three goals, good enough for the third hat trick of her career. Gil added three ground balls, two draw controls, and one caused turnover.
 
A pivotal stat in this one came on the draws as Colby amassed 24 draw controls compared to just five for the Cardinals. In addition, the Mules finished +10 on ground balls (35-25) in the game.
 
The Cardinals' four-game road swing has come to an end as Wesleyan heads back to Smith Field on Saturday for a 12:00 PM start against Bowdoin.