Posted by Katie Peverada
On a rainy Tuesday evening, the women's lacrosse team took to the field to take on the No. 3-ranked Amherst College Jeffs, and came out on the wrong side of the 12-4 nonconference matchup. The Jeffs remained undefeated with their 12th win of the season, but the loss dropped the Thoroughbreds to 4-9.
Even though the temperature at game time was hovering around a cold 35 degrees, that didn't stop the Jeffs from opening the scoring with five unanswered goals, a deficit Skidmore was never able to recover from. Amherst's Priscilla Tyler opened the scoring at the 24:23 mark of the first half after she picked up a groundball and eventually shot from within the circle 10 seconds later for her 10th goal of the season. Tyler would go on to score a total of three goals and register two assists, and contributed six of the eight Jeff draw controls in the game.
Skidmore turned the ball over 12 times in the first half, with Amherst capitalizing on several of them. Finally, at the 13:04 mark of the first half, Tyler Phillips '17 put a free position shot up high and past Christy Forrest to make it 5-1. The Jeffs answered right back, though scoring five more unanswered goals to end the half with a 10-1 lead. During the 5-0 run, Meghan Mills netted a hat trick, with all three of her shots coming from within the circle.
Amherst had seven different goal scorers in the first half. Skidmore's Megan Kolopsky '17 faced 22 first half shots, 15 of which were on net, and she registered an admirable five saves.
In the second half, Skidmore seemed destined for more of the same when Tyler completed her hat trick just 45 seconds into the frame to make it 11-1. But Skidmore proved determined to not let the rout continue, and actually outscored Amherst 3-2 in the second half. Spencer Morgan '15 tallied her 20th goal of the season off of a free position at the 21:29 mark. With 14 minutes to go in the game, Caroline Browne '15 responded to a Jeffs score when she took a pass from Phillips and put it past Forrest to make it 12-3. With about three minutes left on the clock, Paige DiAntonio '15 scooped up a groundball and Skidmore was able to maintain possession long enough for Krista Lamoreaux '17 to feed Brittney Dioneda '15 in the circle, who scored her sixth goal of the season.
Even though Skidmore controlled the draws, 10-8, the Amherst attack was too powerful for the Thoroughbred defense. Amherst put up 29 shots to Skidmore's 15, and collected 26 groundballs to Skidmore's eight. Skidmore's 22 turnovers also proved costly, as the Jeffs were often able to capitalize on the miscues.
Kolopsky registered six saves in the game while her counterpart Forrest tallied eight. Offensively, Dioneda, Morgan, and Browne all tallied one goal, Lamoreaux had one assist, and Phillips had one goal and one assist for her eighth multi-point game of the season.
Skidmore sits at 3-3 in Liberty League play, which puts them in fifth place with three league games remaining, with two coming against RPI and St. Lawrence, teams that sit ahead of them in the standings. The Thoroughbreds are right in the mix, and their road to the playoffs starts with a 1p.m. home game on Saturday against RPI.