WATERVILLE —- The Colby College women’s lacrosse team is making it appear reaching the NCAA Division III tournament is piece of cake.

The Mules (12-6) will face New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) foe Wesleyan in an NCAA third-round game 11:30 a.m. on Saturday in Middletown, Connecticut. It’s the third consecutive season Colby has reached the third round, and beyond, making it to the quarterfinals each of the past two seasons.

But players and coaches will tell you that, despite the consistent success, each season comes with its own set of challenges.

“There’s a lot of new people this season that haven’t had the opportunity to step up in these games,” said Colby head coach Karen Henning, who is now in her 17th season leading the program. “They’ve come up really big at times where we’ve needed them. It’s cool for me that, yes, for Colby (women’s) lacrosse, we’ve been here the last three years, but there’s been new people stepping up and playing new roles every year.

“Last year, we had three freshmen starting on defense, after the seniors had a great year the season before,” Henning continued. “This year, we graduated four All-American attackers. And now, this attacking unit is finding a way to jell, work together, finding what makes them work. And having to do that in the timeframe that we have, that’s really special, it doesn’t always happen.”

Colby has overcome the graduation of its attackers with the play of senior attack Ally Franz, who is having a career year, leading the team with 48 goals. Behind Franz is junior Julia Jardina, a 2023 USA Lacrosse third-team All-American, who has 45 goals and 15 assists.

“Any goal that we score is because (a teammate) moved through,” Jardina said. “It really is such a team sport. I think our team does such a good job of setting each other up and that’s what makes us special.”

Franz and Jardina are far from the only players contributing offensively. Seniors Tori Congdon and Cami McDonald each have 18 goals, while sophomore Julia Maimonis has 17 goals. Freshman attack Tate Ban leads the Mules with 25 assists.

“I think we’ve embraced that this season, we’ve gone in with the grittiest mindset ever,” Franz said. “If we can’t have the perfect record, we’re going to make the most of what we have and go all the way with it. We’ve also gone into the postseason (mentally) as almost a new season itself. With that comes (a mentality) of working harder for one another, just (with the goal) to keep playing lacrosse. To have that mindset to get there, to have that gritty mindset on and have that extra hunger to keep working harder, hopefully (it leads) to us still playing.”

Another asset for Colby has been its schedule. The NESCAC has become arguably the best conference in Division III women’s lacrosse. Three of the remaining eight teams in the tournament are from the NESCAC. Middlebury (19-0), still alive in the tourney, has won back-to-back DIII titles, and has won four national championships dating back to 2016 (no season was played in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic).

“I think it’s such a privilege to look at every Saturday (on the schedule), we have a nationally-ranked opponent, or someone who can compete at the national level,” Jardina said. “I wouldn’t want it any other way. I will take a couple of losses to good teams if it means we can play against other (nationally ranked) teams, to say we’ve played against really good teams and that we’ve beaten really good teams.”

Saturday’s foe is no stranger to Colby. The Mules beat Wesleyan 10-8 in the regular-season opener on March 2.

The coaches aren’t strangers to one another, either. Kim Williams, who is in her ninth season leading Wesleyan, played for Henning at Division II C.W. Post (now known as Long Island University Post) in Brookville, New York. Williams began her coaching career as an assistant under Henning at Colby from 2011-13. During that time, the Mules went 43-13, including a 22-7 record over NESCAC teams.

“Kim and I go way back, I actually recruited her to LIU and had the opportunity to coach her the year we won (an NCAA Division II title) back in (2007), before I came to Colby,” Henning said. “Her teams are always prepared. They’re always competitive. They’re going to get after it. I think we know we have to bring our A game… They’re going to be better (from the beginning of the season); we’re going to be better, and now it’s (all about) who plays better that day and makes more plays and scores more goals.

“Each (trip to the NCAAs) is becoming that much more meaningful, because you know it’s not common and it doesn’t happen all the time for everyone,” Henning added.