The Calvin women’s lacrosse team began their season on the road playing Thomas More College on Friday, March 5. The Knights defeated Thomas More 12-4.

Junior attacker Emily Cefaratti and sophomore attacker Amanda Davio led their team to victory by recording 11 of the team’s 12 goals. Cefaratti accounted for six of those goals, while Davio had the remaining five.

On Saturday, March 6, the Knights were on the road again playing against the Pioneers of Transylvania University. Calvin came back from being down three goals twice in order to send the game into overtime.

First-year student Lauryn Slachter was the first scorer for the Knights, and Cefaratti scored to put the Knights ahead of the Pioneers 3-2 in the beginning of the first half. However, after the first half the score was 6-5 in favor of the Pioneers.

Throughout the second half of the game both teams collected goals, but Transylvania maintained their lead over Calvin. With five minutes remaining in the second half, the Pioneers were up 13-11, but that lead soon diminished. First-year student Kelly Pepper scored two goals in three minutes to tie it at 13 and send the game into overtime.

After winning the initial draw, Calvin’s defense forced a turnover and shifted downfield, allowing Davio to make the game-winning shot.

In other news, the women’s lacrosse team was recently picked to finish first in the 2016 MIAA preseason coaches’ poll. When asked if this changes the team’s mentality, first-year player Genevieve Schneeman said their team competes to win: “The only thing Coach hates more than losing is not winning, so we play with that mindset.”

Senior captain Carolyn Forbes is thankful for the projected MIAA standings, but they have not distracted the team from working hard to reach their goals. “Our primary goal is to move onto the NCAA tournament,” she continued. “We lost our final game last year to Albion by one point and that has been a driving force as we begin the season.”

Forbes credits the team’s success to their off season: “We worked really hard during the off season with conditioning and stick skills. I think that hard work has paid off these last couple of games.” Schneeman believes that the intentionality of each player pushing and encouraging their teammates to work hard has also aided in the their success.

Cefaratti was named the MIAA Offensive Player of the Week for women’s lacrosse for her efforts against Thomas More and Transylvania. She made 12 of her 18 shot attempts and played a key role in both wins.

The team will travel to Bexley, Ohio, on Saturday, March 12, to play the Crusaders of Capital University. The game starts early at 11 a.m.