Having already proven that it can bounce back from a tough loss, the Colby women’s lacrosse team proved that it can show resilience throughout the course of a single game as well. The eighth-ranked Mules came back to defeat Williams College to continue their fantastic season.

With only four games left in the season, Colby needed to get a win against Williams in order to remain in the running for the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) regular-season championship. Things did not start out well, however, as the Ephs jumped out to an 8-4 lead with halftime quickly approaching. Lane McVey ’12 was determined not to let Williams ruin her Senior Day as she found fellow captain Claire Donegan ’12 to bring the Mules back into the game.

When asked how the team turned the tide at this point in the game, Lisa Hoopes ’13 said, “Coach pulled us in during a time-out and said what we needed to hear to get things back together. Overall, we just weren’t communicating or working together, so once we got that back, everything else seemed to fall into place. We just needed to play with confidence and as a unit.” Colby did just that as Lindsey McKenna ’14 and Katie Griffin ’14 answered a Williams goal to make the score 9-7 at the half.

Alex Mintz ’14 scored her first of three second-half goals to make it a one-goal game to open the second half. Kate Pistel ’13 followed by tying the game before McKenna gave the Mules the lead off of an assist from Mintz. Williams then forced Colby to pull together once more when they tied the game with just 13 minutes left. This time, it didn’t take long for Colby to regroup as McKenna scored her fourth goal of the game just 40 seconds later. Mintz scored two more times and Pistel added her second of the game to clinch the 14-10 win. Both McKenna and Pistel tallied their 70th career goals on the day.

While the win was an important one, the season is far from over. Colby has three games left, all of which are against NESCAC foes, including a pivotal game against Middlebury College. The Mules have had a historic season, being the first Colby team ever to start the season 7-0. But they’re not satisfied yet.

Hoopes has not forgotten that the team has “lost the NESCAC championship two years in a row. I never want to experience that feeling again. Everyone on the team wants to win NESCACs, and ever since our loss to Trinity [College] last spring, that has been our goal. I think we need to take one game at a time and one team at a time and not get ahead of ourselves, and that starts with our game on Wednesday against Bowdoin [College]. Every team in the NESCAC has talent and can’t be taken lightly, and I think we saw that on Saturday when we had to come back to beat Williams,” she said.

If Colby is able to defeat Bowdoin on Wednesday, April 18, the Mules will be just two games away from securing the number-two seed in the NESCAC playoffs, and in perfect position to make a sixth consecutive appearance in the championship game.