WATERVILLE — The Colby College women’s lacrosse team is a good defensive team. On Saturday afternoon at Bill Alfond Field, Amherst’s defense was a little better.

The visitors held the Mules scoreless in the second half, while scoring six goals to take a come-from-behind 8-4 victory.

The loss snapped a seven-game win streak for Colby (8-2, 4-2 New England Small College Athletic Conference), which entered the game ranked No. 8 in the nation. No. 7 Amherst improved to 7-2 (4-2 NESCAC).

“(Amherst) played well. They locked down. I think we got a little bit rattled and we couldn’t get our composure back. We can’t afford those mistakes against great teams,” Colby coach Karen Henning said.

Colby led 4-2 at the half, but Amherst tied the game with two goals in one minute, 17 seconds early in the second half. At 20:22, Julia Crerend’s goal cut the Mules’ lead to 4-3. At 19:05, the visitors tied the game when Rachel Passarelli scored on a free position shot.

Claire Cagnassola scored with 10:15 left in the game to give Amherst its first lead of the game, and the lead for good. The visitors added three more goals, including two in the final minute and a half, to seal the win.

In the first half, Colby played patient offense, controlling the ball and waiting for open shots to present themselves. In the second half, Amherst’s defense closed those shooting and passing lanes, holding the Mules to just three shots on goal over the final 30 minutes. Colby had just nine shots in the game.

“In the first half, we possessed the ball really well and attacked. We did a nice job there, looking for the hole. I thought we slowed them down in their transition game, which was very exciting,” Henning said. “It’s putting it all together. When we can do that, I think we’re playing with the best of them. If we let down somewhere, that opens up the door.”

In the first half, the teams traded goals before the Mules scored a pair late in the half to take a 4-2 lead. Kendall Smith’s high shot went over the shoulder of Amherst goalie Christy Forrest to give Colby a 3-2 lead with 6:05 to play. With 1:10 left in the half, Emilie Klein scored her second goal of the game for Colby, off a pass from Bridget Horwood.

Mia Haughton had two goals and two assists for Amherst, while Forrest made one save for the victory.

Lexi Perticone had three assists for Colby. Izzy Scribano made four saves for the Mules.

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242

<URL destination=””>tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com

</URL>Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM

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