The men’s and women’s lacrosse teams came out on opposite ends of two high scoring games this past weekend.
The ladies traveled to Alliance, Ohio to face the Mount Union Purple Raiders this past Saturday afternoon.
Although they went into the competition knowing that the nationally ranked Raiders were incredibly talented, the Tigers still fell by score of 3-20.
“Playing a challenging and aggressive team like that makes us realize our weaknesses and what we still have to work on to eventually be able to compete with strong teams like that in the future,” said junior attackman Taylor Summers.
Mount Union was able to score three times in the first eight minutes of play, setting the tone for the rest of the match.
However, the Tigers were able to counter about five minutes later.
Summers and senior midfielder Maryclaire Heldring were able to score within 30 seconds of each other, closing the gap to 3-2.
The Raiders were able to re-establish their dominance by tacking on seven more goals before heading into the locker room for halftime. The first half had ended with Mount Union leading 10-2.
Early in the second half, the Tigers fell to a 10-goal deficit.
Luckily for the Tigers, Summers was able to net another in an attempt to keep her team alive.
Unfortunately, their ruthless opponent was able to convert five more goals before the final whistle.
Strong performances for the Tigers were seen by Summers and Heldring, combining for the total of three goals.
Junior goalkeeper Liz Hawkins tallied a total of 14 saves for DePauw.
Senior attack Elizabeth McCracken gave credit to the team’s defensive performance.
“Our defense was amazing, they never gave up and even the other team commented are their great skills,” she said.
The ladies will resume play against Baldwin Wallace this coming Saturday. Faceoff is scheduled for 11a.m. at Reavis Stadium.
The men’s game this weekend told a different story.
The Tigers defeated Calvin College by a convincing score of 20-3 to record their third straight victory.
The Tigers were able to open play with a goal in the first 27 seconds coming from first-year attack Matt Dauw.
DePauw was able to claim the first ten goals of the match and dominated play from that point forward.
Heading into halftime, the Tigers boasted an eight point lead of 11-3.
Continuing their strong performance through the duration of the match, DePauw defeated the Knights by a 17 point margin.
“Our team performance was great,” said junior midfielder Grant Skipper. “The win against Calvin was definitely a reminder for where we want to be at as a team.”
Junior midfielder Sam Alkema contributed four goals, while sophomore and first-year midfielders Ben Sherman and Nate Greenberg were able to add three goals each.
Offensively, the Tigers were extremely efficient.
“Our offense was the most productive it has been all season, allowing the defense to relax a little bit,” said first-year defender Donny Bleifuss.
With their 20 goals, there were 11 Tigers that had scored at least one goal.
The men will pick back up against rival Kenyon College at home on Saturday. After the big win, they will be riding their confidence into the start of conference play.
“This game and specifically our strong performance leave a great team morale going into practice this upcoming week,” said Bleifuss. “It leaves us with the confidence and type of swagger that can affect the way we play this week in an extraordinary way.”
Following their home games on Saturday, both of the men and women will head to California to face some West Coast competition over Spring Break.