After an opening 10 minutes of futility by both squads, the Cardinals chalked up their first goal on an assist from Allie Lynch to Maggie Lile, who bagged the first of her four goals on the day. Roughly a minute and a half later, the same Wesleyan duo repeated the trick, bumping the score up to 2-0.
The Amherst squad, which had begun sluggishly, shook off their road blues long enough to retaliate with two goals: the first on an assist from sophomore Kelley Trapp to junior Tyler Tory-Murphy, who managed to slip the ball past the Wesleyan goalkeeper. The second Amherst tally came four minutes later with Trapp again with the assist — making her 26th of the season — to Amherst’s top scorer, senior Amy Craig, who notched her 35th goal of the current campaign to knot the game at 2-2. Six minutes later, the Cardinals’ Jess Chukwu, through a free position shot, was able to give Wesleyan the lead again, and Charlotte Hastings followed to make it 4-2 before the first half came to an end.
The Wesleyan Cardinals came out with a vengeance in the second half, with Hastings scoring yet again, followed by Allie Lynch adding a goal of her own. Amherst cut into the lead with Tory-Murphy scoring on an assist from Craig, to make it 6-3. But moments later, the Cardinals removed all doubt by scoring four goals in a flurry, with Lile and Hastings each racking up their third goals of the game, while Chukwu gained her second, realistically putting the match out of reach. Another goal by Wesleyan’s Erin McCarthy was merely icing on the cake, making it Wesleyan 10, Amherst 3.
First-year Amherst goalkeeper Lamia Harik made a superb effort, putting up six saves in the first 45 minutes. But as the last line of defense, could do only so much in the face of the Wesleyan onslaught. For the last 15 minutes of the game, reserve goalie Caroline Burke was brought in and did an admirable job under the circumstances
In the last nine minutes of the game, the Lord Jeffs and Cardinals traded goals with Amherst’s Caki Guinee scoring unassisted, followed by Wesleyan’s relentless Lile, who racked up her fourth and last score of the day. Amherst’s Christina Hopkins ’10 managed to score for the Lord Jeffs shortly before the five-minute mark of the second half, but, out of deference to the scoreboard, the celebration was muted. Before the sound shellacking came to a merciful end, Wesleyan’s Hastings added insult to injury by scoring her fourth goal of the contest to seal the deal at 12-5.
With the loss, Amherst’s record falls to 6-4 (3-3 in NESCAC), with Wesleyan improving to 5-7 (2-5 in NESCAC). Amherst can blame this one on the sloppy field conditions and the earlier midweek game at Wheaton and will play Middlebury next. Wesleyan heads to Williamstown to take on the Ephs in an effort to win the Little Three title for the first time since 1982.