Box Score

EASTON, Pa. - The Lafayette women's lacrosse team couldn't recover from a strong Colgate start to the second half as the Raiders held off the Leopards late on Saturday afternoon at Fisher Stadium, winning by a final score of 13-11.

"I think we gave a good effort, but we definitely weren't the best version of ourselves today," head coach Alison Fisher said. "There was a lot of panic and uncomfortable energy that we're not used to when we're playing at our best. Overall, I thought it was an average performance and Colgate played well. We didn't match their level of play for a full 60 minutes and didn't play up to our potential."

One of the major bright spots on the afternoon was sophomore goalie Anna Raymond, who put in the best performance of her career, totaling a career-high 16 saves in the game.

"I was seeing the ball really well today and the defense in front of me played great, forcing some uncomfortable shots and some easy saves," Raymond said. "We were communicating pretty consistently throughout the game, but just couldn't pull it out today."

Colgate opened the day with two of the first three goals to take a 2-1 advantage midway through the opening half. Then, four straight from the Leopards from four different players opened up a 5-2 advantage with 5:12 to play in the first.

Two late tallies from the Raiders took the game into the break at 5-4 with Lafayette in front and that momentum continued into the start of the second stanza. Two goals in the opening minute forced a Lafayette timeout just 43 seconds into the second half with Colgate regaining the lead at 6-5. Two more for the Raiders out of that break made it an 8-5 game with 26:42 remaining.

A free-position finish from Kirsten Wilhelmsen at 25:04 finally stopped the six-goal run for the visitors and cut the edge to two at 8-6. The sides traded goals throughout the rest of the half, but Lafayette never got closer than a two-goal margin for the remainder of the game as time ran out on a 13-11 final.

Freshman Emma Novick led the Leopards offensively with four goals on the day, while Wilhelmsen added three and two assists for five points. Charlotte Avallone netted two, and Hannah Davey and Carlianne McCabe tallied one apiece.

The circle hurt the Maroon and White on Saturday afternoon as Colgate won 17 of the game's 25 draw controls, including seven draws from the Raiders' Haley O'Hanlon. The visitors led in shots, 40-30, and ground balls, 20-9, while Lafayette was able to convert on four of its 12 free-position chances.

With the loss, the Leopards fall to 4-5 on the year and 1-1 in Patriot League action. Lafayette is right back at it on Wednesday as it returns to Fisher Stadium to host Bucknell at 7:30 p.m.