The women’s lacrosse team dominated North Central College 19-9 on Saturday, but lost a tight match to Carthage College 12-10 on Sunday.
The Tigers scored early and often on their way to five goals in the first ten minutes of the game. After the game was tied 1-1, the women went on an 8-2 run and headed into halftime with an 11-5 lead.
The team was led in the first half by two goals by junior Emma Flynn and first-year Sydney Blake.
After senior Emilye Denny’s goal started the second half, the Cardinals responded with back-to-back goals to cut DePauw’s lead to 12-7. Denny immediately responded with two goals within 30 seconds of each other to extend the lead once again.
Denny led the Tigers with four goals, while Flynn added three more and senior Nicole Gibson and senior Taylor Summers each had three assists. Five different Tigers had five ground balls each, and Blake caused three North Central turnovers.
Sophomore Rachel Allen was happy with how the team took care of business against an inferior opponent.
“We knew we were the better team heading into the game,” Allen said. “It’s impressive how we came out in the opening minute to take the lead and never let it go.”
Sunday’s matchup against Carthage brought much more drama than Saturday’s action.
Both teams went back and forth to start the game and found themselves tied at 4-4. With just over a minute to play, Rachel Mussell put Carthage ahead by a goal heading into halftime.
DePauw’s defense fell flat in the beginning of the second half as they allowed four goals in the opening 2:23. Both teams traded goals and the score was 12-7 with 5:03 remaining.
The women then began to mount their late-game comeback. Flynn, Denny and sophomore Madi Lozanowski each scored goals within two minutes of each other to cut the Cardinals’ lead to 12-10 with 2:59 left to play. The Tigers were only able to get one more shot attempt off for the rest of the game and lost the matchup.
Flynn led the team with four goals, while Gibson added two goals and two assists. Each team finished with 23 shot attempts and DePauw held a 13-10 advantage in draw controls. Carthage took advantage of DePauw in the ground ball game as they secured five more ground balls than the Tigers.
Sophomore Erica Rapelje was disappointed with the outcome of the game but impressed with how the team fought back late in the game.
“Obviously we want to come out and win every game,” Rapelje said. “But if we were going to lost, at least we went down fighting. I’m happy with how we fought.”
Flynn and the team are looking forward to starting conference play this weekend.
“We’ve played well so far in our nonconference games,” Flynn said. “All we want to do is play NCAC games, though. It’s the best part of the season.”
The weekend split gives DePauw a record of 2-1. The team is back on the field Saturday as they start North Coast Athletic Conference pay against Wittenberg at noon.