The Colby College women’s lacrosse team has gotten their season off to an ideal start. The team came into the season ranked 10th in the nation, but faced a difficult test against 17th-ranked Amherst College to open the season. A thrilling match ended with a late goal to give Colby the victory. The next day, Colby traveled to play the University of New England (UNE) and came away with a convincing win.

As far as season-openers go, they don’t get much better than the win over Amherst. The first half was back-and-forth as there were four lead changes. Amherst opened the scoring barely three minutes into play, but Colby responded with the first of sophomore Lindsey McKenna’s three goals. When Amherst scored again, Colby responded with an offensive explosion. Tess Petesch ’13 started by tying the game on an assist from All-American Kate Pistel ’13. Katharine Eddy ’14 then assisted a Sarah Lux ’14 goal before scoring a goal of her own. Pistel then added to the Mules’ lead with just 10 minutes left before intermission. Following this goal, Colby’s offense entered a period of over a half hour without scoring. This allowed the Lord Jeffs to get back in the game with two goals before the half.

Amherst started the second half by scoring twice in the opening seven minutes to take a 6-5 lead. Over the next 20 minutes, Colby was kept in the game by the superb play of first-year goalkeeper Claire Dickson. Of her 13 saves, eight came in the second half. She specifically made two outstanding saves to keep Colby from going down by two. Her play allowed Colby to keep Amherst scoreless for the remainder of the game and left room for yet another comeback. With just nine minutes to go, Eddy found McKenna to tie the game. With the game still tied, Amherst attempted to hold the ball in order to take the last shot. However, Pistel made the play of the game by stealing the ball on a great defensive effort. Colby then ran the ball up field where Eddy found McKenna again for the game-winning goal. By scoring with under six seconds remaining, Colby secured its place as one of the top teams in the nation.

Following the thrilling win, Colby had to make sure to avoid an adrenaline crash against UNE. Colby came out gunning and never let UNE into the game. Colby raced to a 10-2 lead at the half before closing out the game in the second. Lux scored early to give Colby the lead before UNE tied the score at 1-1. Colby’s offense then exploded for a 7-0 run that put the game out of reach. Petesch scored once in the first half and thrice in the second, Katie Griffin ’14 had three goals, Lux, Eddy and Lane McVey ’12 had two goals apiece and McKenna, Sara Miller ’15 and Claire Donegan ’12 each added a goal of their own. Colby’s defense was as superb as the offense, holding UNE off until the game was decided.

By starting off the season with a great top-20 victory and a decisive non-conference win, the Colby omen’s lacrosse team has put themselves in perfect position to make a run at the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) title.