There was a positive vibe building up for the AU Women's Lacrosse team's home match Saturday against first-place Colgate.
AU had just come off a strong showing in a loss to No. 11 Johns Hopkins, and pregame workouts left everyone eager to play. After a lengthy postgame lecture from coach Ashley Flanigan that transformed into a conference between her and team leaders, it was clear that Saturday's 13-8 loss to the Red Raiders sucked out that positive feeling - not to mention a shot at playing the Patriot League championship in Washington.
"I felt like in warm-ups we were all fired up," said downcast junior Moriah Linnell. "I don't really know what happened. You can't attribute it to anything in particular."
If Linnell couldn't pinpoint what happened, the statistics sheet might shed light on why the Eagles have lost five of six games. AU (5-9, 3-2 PL) again had face-off problems, losing the draw control battle by a more than 2-to-1 margin. The Raiders (10-4, 5-0) took advantage of their frequent possessions and threw all they had at AU junior goalkeeper Kathleen Finnegan, outshooting the Eagles, 34-16.
That Colgate managed only 13 goals on 34 shots is a tribute to Finnegan, whose 15 saves were the most she's made since an April 2004 loss to George Mason. With the exception of a lazy sidearm shot from Colgate's Eden Halladay midway through the first half, there weren't many goals she had a chance on, as she faced several one-on-one breaks from Tara Casey and Katie McVeigh, who each had a game-high five points of assists and goals.
But Finnegan's saves and Linnell's team-high four goals don't count for a win unless they have more backup. All of AU's goals were unassisted and came thanks to individual initiative.
"We as a team didn't show up today," said Linnell, who has nine goals in her last two games. "A few individuals had some spurts, but we definitely didn't come up as a team."
In a movement against its identity as a second-half team, AU had its best opportunities in the first half. Colgate rushed to a 3-1 lead in the first 10 minutes, showing the advantage good passing gives a team by slinging two one-timers past Finnegan.
Quick Colgate counters to every AU goal forced the Eagles to play catch-up, but they were never far behind. When sophomore Sarah Milewski scored her second goal of the game off an inbounds pass with just one second left in first half, the score was 8-6 Colgate, and AU seemed ready for its usual second-half wake-up call.
But as the final 30 minutes wore on, AU's attack wore out. The Raiders added to their lead after just one minute, and the Eagles only found the net twice the rest of the game in the face of aggressive Colgate defenders.
The loss knocks AU out of contention for a share of first place. Now the Eagles will have to protect the third spot, which Bucknell has a chance of clinching if it beats AU Saturday at Reeves Field.
Although the defeat to Colgate was a momentum-buster, it didn't eliminate the Eagles from title contention. It just made it much more difficult.
"Our goal has been to win the Patriot League," Linnell said. "Of course we wanted to be able to host, but this doesn't take away from [winning the PL]"
