Women’s Lacrosse Wins Both, Shows Owls Hoo’s Boss

The women’s lacrosse team continued its streak of six consecutive wins this weekend and showed no signs of slowing down. On Saturday, March 26, Amherst faced nearby Westfield State University and came out on top, notching its first win of the week 17-7.

Coming into the game, the Owls were a relative unknown: the Mammoths had only faced them once before, in 2019, when they won 17-3 on the road in Westfield. As in 2019, the Mammoths quickly overwhelmed their opponent on Saturday. Sydney Larsen ’23 started off strong, scoring a goal in the first two minutes of the game with an assist by Becky Kendall ’22. Kendall also scored just over a minute later, giving the Mammoths a two-goal cushion before the Owls got on the scoreboard for the first time. Lauren Friedman ’25 scored her first goal of the game with 8:32 to go in the first period before the Owls scored again. Campbell Moriarty ’24 netted her first of the day off a beautiful cut and one-time finish in response. Friedman and Moriarty then both scored their second goals of the day to extend the lead to four. Moriarty finished with three goals in the game. The Owls scored two more goals to finish the quarter on a high note; but that would be the most they would score in any quarter in the game, and the Mammoths ended the frame with a 6-4 lead.

Remember Friedman? She came into the second period on fire, scoring the first three goals of the quarter. Then, defender Grace Wyckoff ’24 netted her first collegiate goal unassisted to extend the lead. The Owls didn’t manage to score until the last minute of the period, and the Mammoths went into halftime with a commanding 10-5 lead.

The Owls were only able to score two goals across the second half, while the Mammoths recorded three in the third quarter and four in the fourth. As the Mammoths ran away with the game, midfielder Rachel Rogers ’25 scored her first collegiate goal, and Megan Larmann ’22 scored her first goal of the season, sealing a Mammoth victory.

The team came together and absolutely dominated their competition on every front, never trailing in the game. And some individual performances were especially impressive. Friedman set a career-high with five goals against Westfield State and remains the team’s leading scorer this season, with 17 total goals through six games. Ashley Tucker ’22, Kendall, and Kendyl Stewart ’23 each had two assists. Kendall also extended an outstanding 11-game goal-scoring streak and continues to propel the Mammoths toward victory. On the defensive side, senior goalkeeper Caroline Fischer ’22 saved the day, stopping eight of the Owls’ shots and holding them to just one goal in each of the final three quarters.

The momentum didn’t stop in New Hampshire, with the goals continuing to flow in their game against another Owls team, Keene State University. The Mammoths got the ball rolling early, with Maddie Blalock ’23 scoring the game's opening goal, her first of the season, less than two minutes into the contest. Keene quickly tied the game, but Eliza Marcus ’25E got her second goal of the season off a free-position shot only 20 seconds later. The Owls tied the game a second time, but this would be the last time the game was at all close, as Tucker and Kendall scored back-to-back goals to finish the first quarter, resulting in a 4-2 Amherst lead at the horn.

The game’s second period was more of the same, as Bevacqua and Moriarty extended Amherst’s scoring run before the Owls got on the board twice. With the lead again narrowed to just two, the Mammoths looked to be losing their mojo. But then the floodgates opened, with a 9-0 run putting the game away for good. Three of those goals came in the last two minutes of play before the break — first, Moriarty got her second of the day off the first career assist from Charlotte Palmore ’24, and Larsen and Bevacqua netted the final two goals of the period to widen the margin to five.

The third period remained all Amherst, with the Mammoths scoring the remaining six of their nine in a row. One goal from Larsen and two from Friedman got the ball rolling. With less than seven minutes left in the period, Kendall made the score 13-4, before Tucker tallied Amherst’s 14th. A few minutes later, Kendall returned to the scoresheet to make it 15. Keene got one back on the Mammoths with 11 seconds remaining in the period, but the damage was already done.

The game’s final quarter was quieter, with Amherst reaching deeper into its roster, allowing its starters to rest. Keene scored one goal four minutes into the period, and for the final goal of the game, Olivia Stewart ’25 recorded her first career goal from a free position shot, leaving the final score at a definitive 16-6.

The Mammoths will look to continue their winning streak as they face No. 17 Bowdoin at home on Saturday, April 2, at noon.