MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – In an ending that truly has to be seen to be believed, the #3 seed Wesleyan women's lacrosse team scored a game-tying goal as time expired in regulation then went on to win off a deflected pass on the first possession of overtime to land a pulse-pounding 10-9 win over #2 seed Tufts in the NESCAC Semifinal round. The Cardinals advance to the NESCAC Championship for the third straight season where they will meet #1 Middlebury at 1 PM on Sunday.
Leading 8-5 midway through the third quarter and later by an 8-6 margin with under 10 minutes left in regulation, Wesleyan saw their advantage disappear as the Jumbos tied the score with 5:05 remaining. Allie Zorn then scored a go-ahead goal with 58 seconds left before
Lindsey Diomede '26 secured a crucial draw control to give the Cardinals a chance to send the game into overtime.
After working the ball around the perimeter,
Becca Dibble '26 took a shot that sped over the crossbar and out of bounds with a Jumbo defender stretching her stick enough to earn the ball back to Tufts. As the clock wound under 10 seconds left, Tufts called timeout just as a defender picked the ball up to restart play.
The possession resumed with 5.9 seconds left and what should have been a routine end for Tufts turned into chaos as Diomede forced a turnover on the restart as she and
Bridget Horst '26 doubled Eleanor Helm and the ball caromed over to Dibble. The senior scooped up the ground ball and with just three seconds on the clock, passed over to
Addie Cummings '26 who had two Jumbo defenders immediately close her down. Cummings had her back to goal when she flung a backhanded shot low on-cage went five-hole on Tufts goalie Devon Chipman.
Back from the brink of elimination, the Cardinals opened the overtime period with a Diomede draw control win. On the clearance attempt following the draw, a loose ball on the turf was scooped up by
Hannah Gilliam '28, followed by a Wesleyan timeout. The stoppage allowed the Cardinals to get their clear set and on the ensuing possession,
Bridget Horst '26 passed to
Caroline Cervini '27 right in front of goal. Cervini had her stick up high and the ball deflected off her stick towards an unsuspecting Chipman in net. The pass changed direction slightly but enough to catch Chipman off-guard and land inside the left post, touching the back of the net for the OT game-winner, sending the Cardinal bench into hysterics.
Very little separates these two sides as the regular season showdown also required overtime to determine a winner, with Tufts taking a 11-10 victory in Middletown back on April 11. This time, the Cardinals prevailed in the most surreal of circumstances, forcing a turnover with under five seconds left, scoring a game-tying goal with no time remaining, and then netting the game-winner on a deflected pass on the first possession of OT.
The contest was all Wesleyan at the start, with
Mya Waryas '27 beating her defender to a spot before shooting low and to Chipman's right for the opening goal on the first possession of the game. Dibble made it 2-0 Cardinals, taking advantage of a Tufts miscue right in front as she was left wide open on a player-up advantage.
Allie Zorn scored the opener for Tufts and then back-to-back
Elle Priesing '26 goals made it 4-1 Cardinals. Tremendous passing led to the first Priesing goal as
Maddie Shoemaker '27 took a hit on a drive to cage before passing back to Waryas who fed Cervini on the left wing who quickly passed to Priesing wrapping around cage for the goal. Her second goal came on a free position to spot the Cardinals a three-goal first quarter lead.
Tufts scored with one minute left in the first and again just 53 seconds into the second quarter to cut into the deficit, only for Wesleyan to restore a three-goal lead on Dibble's second of the game and then Waryas slid between two Jumbo defenders to find herself with a free shot on-cage that she buried to make it 6-3 Wesleyan.
Taking a 6-4 lead into halftime, the Cardinals did well to score twice in the second quarter as Wesleyan was outshot 9-3 in the frame by the Jumbos. Wesleyan got out in transition early in the third quarter with Horst driving the ball deep into the Tufts defensive end before back passing to Waryas who spotted Cummings on a drive towards net. Cummings received the pass and went low to beat Chipman. Then six minutes later, Waryas lofted a pass over multiple Jumbo defender's sticks to Cummings who netted her second goal of the quarter to make it 8-5 Wesleyan.
Tufts then answered with their 4-0 run with Zorn scoring in the third quarter before Grace Hammond and Kate Deehan beat
Izzy Weintraub '26 in goal to tie the score. Zorn's fourth goal with under a minute left in regulation looked to have won it in come-from-behind fashion for the Jumbos, only to see the Cardinals pull out the most epic of comebacks to punch their ticket to the NESCAC Championship game.
Stats were nearly level in most categories except for a convincing 13-7 edge for Wesleyan in draw controls while the Jumbos went 1-for-6 on free position shots in the contest.
Cummings finished with three goals and one assist while Waryas had two goals and two assists. Priesing and Dibble both had two first half goals while Cervini had the OT game-winner and an assist. Diomede posted five draw controls, two caused turnovers, and two ground balls while Horst had four draw controls, two caused turnovers, and two ground balls. Weintraub made six saves in goal.
Wesleyan is back in the NESCAC Championship game for the third straight season and fifth time in team history, still searching for the first title in team history. The Cardinals square off against Middlebury in a rematch of a 5-4 defensive slugfest won by the Panthers on a Caroline Adams goal with no time remaining in regulation.
