With a hard-fought conference win under its belt and a battle against a national powerhouse in the books, women’s lacrosse walked away from this weekend with both lessons and momentum.
In its conference opener on March 7, the Red (5-2, 1-0 Ivy) secured a long-awaited 16-14 victory over Brown (4-1, 0-1 Ivy), snapping a multi-year losing streak. Head coach Jenny Graap emphasized the significance of the matchup, noting that Brown had been a tough opponent in recent years.
“The conference for us is very important because it’s our ticket to the postseason, and Brown is a team that we’ve not beaten in several years,” Graap said. “Facing Brown in our first conference game was really, really big, and I'm glad we got away with a victory.”
The game wasn’t without late drama. Holding a 16-10 lead in the closing minutes, the Red allowed the Bears to rally, conceding four unanswered goals in under two minutes of play. While the Red still secured the win, the performance highlighted the team’s need to maintain composure under pressure.
“We take some lessons away from that, certainly,” Graap said. “We’re not playing perfect lacrosse — I don’t know that there is such a thing — but we’re learning in every game.”
Despite the late scare, the Red’s offensive firepower was on full display. Senior midfielder Caitlin Slaminko, who was recently added to the Tewaaraton Award watch list, scored six goals, leading the charge for the Red.
“[Slaminko] is spectacular,” Graap said. “She’s a two-time captain for us, tough as nails, pre-med major and a tremendous leader. I just can't say enough about her. Her performance on the field just speaks to how confident she is as a woman, and I know our team benefits from her awesome leadership.”
Senior attackers Kylie Gelabert and Josie Vogel together with sophomore midfielder Ellie Bergin also each netted two goals, sealing the victory for the Red.
The Red quickly followed up with a matchup against No. 6 Stanford (7-1, 2-1 ACC), where it would put up a strong showing but unfortunately fall to the Cardinals.
The Red’s strong first half behind the play of Slaminko and senior attacker Maggie Pons was not enough to fend off a second-half push from Stanford. Head coach Jenny Graap acknowledged the Stanford defense was a tough force to break through for the Red.
“I thought [Stanford’s] defense was good throughout,” Graap said. “At halftime, the draw control seemed to go away from us a little bit more, so perhaps they made some adjustments there. In general, though, their zone defense was very difficult for us to penetrate.”
The Red now look forward to an extended break from play. With just about a week until its next match against Binghamton University, the Red will rest and prepare for a hopeful rebound performance.
“We’re ready physically and mentally to take a little bit of a break,” Graap said. “We’ll use this time in preparation for Binghamton to work on ourselves. Frankly, we’re a very good team, and we just have to keep getting incrementally better, so this is a nice period of the season to work on that.”
The Red will defend home field against Binghamton on March 17 at 5 p.m. The game can be streamed live on ESPN+.
Matthew Leonard is a Sun Contributor and can be reached at mbl229@cornell.edu.
