MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – In a contest that saw neither side lead by more than one goal for 50+ minutes, it was No. 9 ranked Colby who made a late surge which proved enough in a 10-8 win over No. 11 Wesleyan on Saturday afternoon in a rain-soaked affair from Smith Field.
 
The back-and-forth dual between two of the NESCAC's best came down to the fourth quarter as Olivia Lai '23 G'24 netted her third goal, making it a tie score at 7-7 with 9:06 remaining. The Mules answered back just 1:05 later with a Cami McDonald goal and the Cardinals were inches away from tying the score again as Bridget Horst '26 hit the crossbar on the next Wesleyan possession.
 
Colby scored again just over a minute later, creating a two-goal cushion with 5:58 remaining. Even though the Mules secured the draw, Maeve Olson '25 forced a turnover, giving the ball back to the Cardinals, but another goal-less possession gave the ball back to Colby.
 
A lengthy possession for the Mules prolonged after Kiara Tangney '25 was sent off on a yellow card. As the clock wound under 2:10, it was Ally Franz again, scoring her fifth of the day for Colby, giving the Mules their largest lead of the game at 10-7 with 2:01 left on the clock.
 
Wesleyan wouldn't go away quietly, forcing another turnover with just over a minute left, eventually leading to a Laura Baine '24 goal with 30 seconds left. After winning the draw, Lai had a good look deep in the Colby defensive end, but her spinning shot missed the cage amidst heavy traffic in front, and that was the final play as the buzzer sounded on a 10-8 Colby win.
 
Both teams looked sharp in the season opener for both sides, with the game featuring seven lead changes and six ties. Tangney put Wesleyan ahead just 1:13 into play with an unassisted tally and Izzy Weintraub '26 made four of her five saves in the first quarter alone, keeping the Cardinals close despite Colby holding a 3-2 lead after one.
 
The Cardinal defense held Colby to just two shot attempts in the second quarter in a low-scoring frame as Tangney netted another while Horst scored her first of the season, tying the score at 4 apiece at the half.
 
Colby took the first two-goal lead of the game with two goals just 1:07 apart early in the third quarter, but the Cardinals had an answer with goals from Maddie Shoemaker '27 and Lai on the player-up as it was all tied at 6-6 heading into the fourth where Colby outscored Wesleyan 4-2 to seal the win.
 
Lai led the Cardinal offense with four points (three goals, one assist) as the graduate attack netted her 26^th career hat trick. Shoemaker and Baine each recorded one goal and one assist while Tangney stuffed the stat sheet with two goals, five ground balls, three caused turnovers, and two draw controls.
 
Molly Simon '26 and Olson both had big days on the defensive end. In her first career start, Simon recorded a game and career-high four caused turnovers with three ground balls. Olson, meanwhile, totaled four ground balls and three caused turnovers in what was her 39^th consecutive start.
 
As a team, Wesleyan outshot Colby 26-19 and won the turnover battle (19-16), ground ball battle (25-19), and draw controls (11-10).
 
Next up for the Cardinals is a trip to Maryland for a non-conference battle against Top 5 ranked Salisbury on Sunday, March 10 at Noon.