Men’s and women’s lacrosse teams ended on a high note by playing in two close matches to end their seasons. The men’s lacrosse team lost to Oberlin 15-14 in overtime this past Tuesday, while the women’s team defeated Ohio Wesleyan 14-12 on April 28. Overall, the men’s team finished with a 2-7 record, while the women’s team finished with a 4-5 record.

Although in a regular year lacrosse would play around 17 games, players on both teams were happy to return to competitive matchups and reunite with their teammates. David Kraus, ’23, indicated that playing alongside his teammates was a great way to socialize during the pandemic.

“I know this whole pandemic has been so tough mentally on not being able to hang out with people,” Kraus said. “Having these guys to play around with was the highlight of the season so far along with the two wins.”

Allegheny’s two wins this season came against Hiram. Both games were conference matchups, and Allegheny won 20-2 and 23-4 respectively. Despite finishing the season with a losing record, the Gators remained competitive all season long, and even took two colleges (Wooster and Oberlin) to overtime.

Kraus was disappointed about the loss this Tuesday against Oberlin, but found some positive takeaways from the defeat.

“Obviously, it’s never fun to lose,” Kraus said. “We should have cleaned it up a little bit on both sides of the field and didn’t let Oberlin take charge on a couple of scoring streaks. However, we did have a run where we scored seven unanswered goals in a row, and we can hang with teams that have been established for multiple years.”

Allegheny men’s lacrosse team has only played in two COVID-shortened seasons. Similar to Kraus, Head Coach Tommy Pearce has confidence in Allegheny’s young program and talked about the expectations he has for each member of the team heading into next fall.

“We don’t get together as a team on the lacrosse field until next September,” Pearce said. “In the meantime, they are responsible for bringing the best version of themselves back to the team again. So (over the summer), they need to be on the speed ladder, they need to be doing their agility work, they need to be lifting, and they need to have the stick in their hands.”

Likewise, Head Coach Ashley Hughes listed her expectations for the women’s lacrosse team heading into the next season.

“I know we are still in the middle of a pandemic, but with things opening back up, we would like to set that standard early on with the summer program provided by Coach Van, our strength coach,” Hughes said. “Hopefully, that is something that would push us in the right direction for the fall season.”

Hughes believes that her team played well this season, especially since women’s lacrosse played the majority of their games against other conference teams.

“We went into what would typically be the heart of the season,” Hughes said. “We didn’t get to have that non-conference season. Even though we did only have nine games this season it was very competitive and gave a chance for our freshmen and sophomores to play against some of our conference teams.”

One sophomore that stood out for the Gators this season was Senna Perelman, ’23. Perelman led the team in points (43), goals (28), and assists (15). In these categories, Perelman placed fifth or higher among all women lacrosse players in the NCAC. While Perelman was proud of her season, she focused on the team’s performance overall.

“It’s great to come out and feel like I am playing well, but I really couldn’t do it without the team,” Perelman said. “Everyone works so hard. Defenders, for example, who don’t compile a lot of stats, they win games for us. It’s just great to be able to get those goals and assists for my team and win those games.”

The Gators had some excellent team wins this season against Oberlin and Kenyon. Allegheny defeated Oberlin 12-11 in overtime on April 13, and won 14-11 against Kenyon on April 20, respectively. Perelman elaborated on why those two specific victories were significant.

“The Oberlin win was obviously very exciting,” Perelman said. “It was a close game the whole time, we won in overtime, and we came off a few losses in a row. In the Kenyon game, that was our senior night, so it was great to win for our seniors.”

As a whole, both teams encountered adversity playing through the pandemic and there were difficult stretches throughout the season. However, each team finished the season with a positive outlook, and are looking forward to the prospect of a regular season next year.