In their last two home games of the season, the women's lacrosse team lost to both Cornell on Friday and Boston College on Sunday in two close matchups. Cornell edged out Brown with just 1.5 seconds left on the clock, and BC beat Brown with 11 seconds left in the second overtime. But the Bears left the field Sunday feeling positive about their performance against a strong BC team.
"I think (how we played against BC) gives us a lot of momentum and confidence going forward to play Penn next weekend," Lindsay Minges '13 wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. "I know we can repeat our performance and leave the field without any regrets, as we did (Sunday)."
Cornell 10, Brown 9
On a bitter, cold Friday afternoon, the Bears fell to Cornell in the last second, following a controversial call that resulted in a free position shot for Cornell.
This disappointing loss ended the team's three-game winning streak.
"The Cornell game was a huge game for us because we were both fighting for a spot in the Ivy tournament so we were all so excited and pumped for the game," wrote Paris Waterman '11 in an e-mail to The Herald. "We really felt like we played so hard and with so much confidence, but we were unlucky in the final seconds, which was so heartbreaking for us."
With two back-to-back goals off free position shots from Waterman, Brown went up two. Cornell responded, and Katelyn Caro '12 rebutted a minute later.
Ten minutes into the first half, Brown led, 3-1. But in the final 10 minutes of the half, Cornell scored three in a row and led the Bears at halftime, 4-3.
Brown started off the second half with intensity. With a goal from Minges in the first minute, the Bears pulled even.
But the momentum quickly swung the other way, as Cornell scored three in a row within a two-minute span. For the next 10 minutes, Brown and Cornell exchanged goals, each scoring twice.
Down 9-6 with seven minutes left in the game, Kaela McGilloway '12, reigning Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week, scored three times in six minutes, tying the score, 9-9, with a minute left in play.
With just 1.5 seconds left, Cornell's Kate Dewey scored on a free position shot.
"The call by the refs was a hard one, and was definitely a big deciding factor in the outcome of the game," McGilloway said.
Cornell was awarded the controversial free position attempt, despite what looked like a charge on Cornell's account. Both Brown defender Bacie Winship '11 and goalie Isabel Harvey '12 were knocked to the ground during Dewey's run.
"As unfortunate as it was, there were things we could have done earlier in the game to prevent this scenario," McGilloway said. "We played tentatively in the beginning of the game. Towards the end, we had a lot of energy because we were fighting back. We needed to have the same level of energy that we had at the end throughout the entire game."
BC 9, Brown 8
After a hard-fought game, with neither team ever leading by more than two goals, BC scored with 11 seconds left in sudden-death overtime, handing the Bears a loss in their final home game of the season. Sunday's game was the last home game for seniors Bethany Buzzell, Kara Kelly, Kiki Manners and Molly McCarthy.
"Instead of moping about the loss on Friday, we really wanted to bounce back on Sunday against BC," Waterman wrote. "We came out and played an awesome game together as a team."
Minges added, "As a team, we all felt so positive after today's game, knowing that we played our best against a very good BC team."
BC scored the first goal of the game, 10 minutes into the first half. A minute later, Waterman responded from the Bears. In the last 15 minutes, BC scored twice, sandwiching a goal from Alexa Caldwell '11 to put BC ahead, 3-2, at the half.
The back-and-forth action continued in the second half, when there were five ties. Every time Brown evened the score, BC responded with a goal to give the Eagles a lead. With 17 minutes left in regulation, back-to-back goals from McGilloway and Minges gave the Bears their first lead of the game.
Five minutes later, BC tied the score again. With 8:37 left, Kara Kelly '10 scored for the Bears, and Brown led, 8-7, until the last minute of the half, when BC's Hannah Alley forced the game into overtime.
With 11 seconds left of the second overtime, Alley scored again, giving BC the victory over Brown.
"To lose the game against BC in sudden-death overtime was a testament to what the rest of the game was like. Both teams played their heart out," Caldwell wrote.
"Even though the score was the same as the game against Cornell, it wasn't as disappointing," McGilloway said. "In previous years, we've lost to BC by a lot more, so the fact that the score was so close says a lot about the growth of Brown women's lacrosse in the past years. It was a victory in defeat because we proved to everyone that we have become a stronger team."
Next Sunday at 1 p.m., the Bears will play their final regular-season game against No. 6 Penn, who has won their last 27 Ivy League games.
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