Wesleyan University's Gil Horst found the back of the net for the go-ahead goal with 1:16 left in the fourth quarter and the Cardinals went on to a 10-8 win against the Hamilton College Continentals in a 2022 NESCAC Women's Lacrosse Championship quarterfinal at Wesleyan's Smith Field on Saturday.
 
Nationally ranked No. 14 Hamilton (7-7 overall) was the fifth seed for the championship. The Continentals led 6-4 at the half and 8-6 after three quarters. Hamilton rounds out its season with a rescheduled non-conference matchup against Utica University on Tuesday, May 3 at 5 p.m.
 
The 11^th-ranked Cardinals (13-3), who are the fourth seed for the championship, will face Middlebury College in a NESCAC semifinal on Saturday, May 7 at noon. Wesleyan was ahead 3-2 at the end of the first quarter and led for less than 11 minutes against the Continentals.  
 
Hamilton's Olivia Seymour '22 filled the stat sheet with one goal, three assists and two draw controls. Alana King '24 scored a career-high three goals and Lauren Hamilton '22 added two more. Aine Cleary '25 contributed a goal and dished out a season-high two assists, and Eva Abel '22 scored her team-high 31st goal. Meghan Lane '24 guided the team with five draw controls, and Kaitlin Reed '24 stopped a career-high 10 shots as she played all 60 minutes in goal.
 
Molly Greer paced Wesleyan with five points on four goals and one assist and contributed three ground balls and three forced turnovers. Horst finished with a career-high three goals. Corin Grady came from off the bench late in the second quarter, recorded five saves and didn't allow a goal in the final frame.
 
The Cardinals scored six goals on free-position shots while the Continentals had just one goal on two attempts. Greer tied the score at 8-8 on a free-position goal with 11:36 remaining in the fourth quarter.
 
The Continentals opened the scoring with a goal by Hamilton just 46 seconds into the first quarter. Wesleyan responded with a Horst goal, but Abel put the Continentals back in front on a player-down goal with 6:29 remaining. The Cardinals scored with the player advantage 46 seconds later, and Kate Balicki gave Wesleyan the lead with 3:19 remaining.
 
Hamilton enjoyed its best quarter in the second with four goals. Neither team had scored for more than nine minutes when King broke the streak with 8:48 to go on a free-position goal. Hamilton pushed its lead to 5-3 after back-to-back goals by Seymour and Cleary. The Cardinals found the back of the net with 3:08 left, but King restored the two-goal cushion while the Continentals had a player advantage with 1:49 remaining.
 
Trailing 6-4, Wesleyan attempted to build momentum on Greer's free-position goal halfway through the third quarter. Cleary found Hamilton for a goal with 4:14 to go, and King's tally with 2:20 left gave the Continentals an 8-6 advantage entering the fourth quarter, but Hamilton didn't score again.