TRINITY WOMEN'S LACROSSE 2011: Spring Break Finishes with Exciting Win Over Colby!

The Bantams took on NESCAC rival Colby College in Clermont, Florida last Saturday. After a solid win over Union College on Thursday, we looked to step up our transition game against a feisty and aggressive Colby team. We watched Colby play Union earlier in the week and were expecting a strong team who would pressure us hard in the midfield. Though we knew what to expect, we had a tough time executing our game plan in the opening minutes, with the Mules jumping out to a 4-0 within the first ten minutes. After a Trinity timeout, the Bantams slowly started chipping away at the Colby lead, with senior captains Rachel and Alisen notching the first Trinity tallies of the contest. Megan followed their lead with two of her own, one off a free position, before Rachel capped off the 5-0 Trinity run with her second of the game to take a 5-4 lead. Colby responded with two to take a 6-5 lead into halftime.

Heading into the second half, we looked to tighten up on defense, make smart decisions in transition, and be patient on attack. Though the Mules added two quick tallies to start the half, we settled in and fought back, eliminating the 3 goal deficit. Hadley started the run, with a beautifully placed free position shot. Kaitlin H. followed up with a nice shot off an amazing feed from Alisen. Colby managed to extend the lead back to two, but Hadley added her second of the game before Shea came through with an incredible individual effort. After a Colby save, the Mules looked to transition the ball up field. But the ball was dropped in Colby’s defensive end and a race for the ground ball ensued. Shea was up against two Colby defenders, but used her scrappy and aggressive play to come up with the ground ball. She went straight to cage and beat the goalie with a nicely placed shot to tie the game.

The remaining ten minutes turned into some of the most exciting moments of the season so far. With the game tied at 9-9, Liv came up huge in net, making key saves. The defense was AWESOME at collapsing when the Mules drove to cage. The pressure resulted in blocked and low angle shots by Colby attackers. After another spectacular save by Liv, KP called a timeout with just about 5 minutes remaining. The defense and midfielders successfully worked the ball down field and put it in the hands of trusty Rachel, who knew exactly what she wanted to do. She found Lenny inside the 8 and gave her a perfect feed. With two defenders on her, Lenny found the back of the cage to give the Bantams a 10-9 lead.

With two minutes left, Colby was on attack, looking for the perfect opportunity to tie the game. Liv would stand in their way, though, as she came up with her 7th save of the half to deny Colby. With about 30 seconds left, we rushed to get the ball up field to allow time to run out, but a turnover in the midfield allowed a Colby midfielder to pick up the ball around their defensive 30. She barreled full speed in the other direction while our defense dropped into position. With just 20 seconds remaining on the clock, Bruno stepped up and established her position, with the Colby girl running full speed, resulting in an offensive charge. The caused turnover by Bruno marked her fourth of the game and capped a terrific game for Bruno. She added three ground balls and two draw controls to her four caused turnovers and was paramount in our transition game, attacking the seams and beating Colby players 1 v. 1.

The game was a Total Team Effort (TTE) and we will look to continue and build on the success in our games against Skidmore and Williams this week.