水果派AV

The Express, which has dominated the competition en route to a 15-1 record, will host聽Mount Aloysius for the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference championship on Saturday. The record is by far the program's best since it began in 1980, and the championship would be its first. A championship could also mean a berth in the NCAA Division III tournament.

The excitement the team would be experiencing this week has been mixed with more complicated emotions, however, by the Aurora college's announcement on Monday that it will close after 156 years at the end of this semester. Now, senior midfielder聽Lydia Thomas and the Express are more determined to finish the season on their own terms.

鈥淚 feel like everyone on the team has more fuel, more want to win this game," Thomas told 水果派AV.

"We want this so much (and) we'll have so much support from the whole campus, which is really important.鈥�

Along with being the team's last game and the last Wells game to take place on the lakeside campus, Saturday's championship against Mount Aloysius will serve as a culmination of years of work by Thomas and her teammates. After she joined the team in 2021, her first time playing lacrosse, the Express finished that spring's eight-game season at 1-7.聽

Vic Goeller was hired as interim head coach the next season. Before that, he was an assistant coach for Wells' men's lacrosse team. In 2022 he led the women to a 3-11 record, which resulted in the "interim" tag being dropped. The Express closed out its time in the United East Conference with a 2-9 record the following season before joining the AMCC in 2024.

With more experienced returning players and a talented class of incoming ones, Wells was positioned to establish itself in its new conference from the very beginning. The team started the season on an 11-game winning streak, outscoring its opponents by an average of 14.5 goals. Its only loss came on the road against former UEC opponent Bryn Athyn.

鈥淲e have a lot of confidence behind us, and I think that's one thing that we definitely struggled with," Thomas said. "Believing that we're going to win."

Since the loss, the Express has played five games and outscored its opponents 60-14, including its 23-0 win over Hilbert in the AMCC semifinals.聽

Leading Wells has been first-year player Logan Lomonaco, with 90 points from 61 goals and 30 assists. Jade Epp and Hannah Lamont, also in their first college seasons, have combined for 121 points as well. Thomas, meanwhile, has scored 50 goals and recorded 28 assists. Those 78 points are 57 more than she had her junior season.聽

Defensively, the Express has allowed 69 goals this season, an average of 4.33 per game. Senior goalie Lauren Spiegel has racked up 69 saves in 650 minutes in front of the net.

Thomas credited Goeller for the team's dominance on both sides of the field 鈥� and the new heights it has reached as a result.

"We would not be where we are today if it wasn't for how he coaches and teaches us the sport that he loves," Thomas said.聽

On the eve of possibly its first championship and final game, the Wells women's lacrosse team knows what's on the line when it takes the field in Aurora one last time.

鈥淔or the seniors on the team, it's very bittersweet because we built the program with (Goeller) and we really wanted this turnaround," Thomas said. "There was a huge recruiting class coming in next year. There were really big things to be done at this school with the team that we had. I think it's just important to show that we can win and that we will win for the last lacrosse season at Wells.鈥�