MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – The No. 7 ranked Wesleyan women's lacrosse team made a big splash to open their NCAA Tournament run, defeating Roger Williams 19-6 at home on Sunday afternoon. With the win, Wesleyan (15-3) advances to the Third Round next weekend where they will face No. 5 Tufts for the third time this season.
 
The 19 goals for the Cardinals is a new team record for most goals ever scored in an NCAA Tournament game. The previous team record was 13 (accomplished three times). The six goals allowed is tied for the fewest the Cardinals have allowed in a national postseason tournament game.
 
Wesleyan showed no signs of pressure playing at home in the NCAA Tournament for just the third time in program history, opening the game with five unanswered goals in the first 3:37 of play. Five different goal scorers for Wesleyan built the early lead as the Cardinals won every draw and scored on every shot attempt in the 5-0 start.
 
The Hawks broke the scoring run with a goal on their first possession of the game, only to see Wesleyan answer right back with goals on consecutive trips into the attacking end. Gil Horst '23 fired in her second of the game before Kate Balicki '23 scored off a feed from Olivia Lai '23 to make it 7-1.
 
Both sides scored once more before the end of the first quarter, with Balicki completing her hat trick with 1:33 remaining in the frame to make it 8-2 after one. The eight-goal quarter is tied for the second-most goals Wesleyan has scored in a quarter all season.
 
It was more of the same in the second and third quarters, with the Cardinals scoring 11 unanswered goals from Balicki's goal at the end of the first all through the ensuing 30+ minutes. Wesleyan put up six goals in the second, with Chessy Greenwald '23 being the only multi-goal scorer in the period, as the Cardinals relied on a balanced attack as they've done all season.
 
Leading 14-2 at halftime, Wesleyan fired in four more unanswered goals in the third as Balicki netted her fourth and fifth goals of the game before Lindsey Diomede '26 converted a couple of deft feeds from Sam DeLeo '25 to make it 18-2 Cardinals.
 
Roger Williams found four goals in the fourth quarter to account for the 19-6 final score.
 
Balicki (five goals, one assist) tied her career-high in goals and points (six) in this one. Kendall Mittleman '23 totaled four points on one goal and three assists. Greenwald and Gil Horst '23 scored three times each as the pair both finished with their second hat trick of the season. Lai (two goals, one assist) finished with three points while DeLeo racked up a career-high three points (all assists).
 
Bridget Horst '26 extended her single-season team record, adding seven draw controls to bring her season total to 90. She also tallied one assist and two caused turnovers. Erin Trotta '23 broke her own single-season team record, racking up three caused turnovers to lead the team and bring her season total to 38.
 
Three Wesleyan goalkeepers combined for five saves and six goals allowed.
 
The Cardinals are set to meet Tufts in the Third Round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday, May 20 at 4:00 PM from Geneva, New York on the campus of William Smith College. This is a rubber match for the two conference rivals as the Cardinals defeated the Jumbos 14-10 in Medford in the regular season while Tufts earned a 13-11 win in the NESCAC Semifinal round at Middlebury.