DANBURY, Conn. - The Bard College women's lacrosse team opened the 2017 season with an 18-10 loss at Western Connecticut State University on Wednesday night.

The Colonials (1-0) had to fight Bard off for the entire first half. Bard scored first on an unassisted goal by Nicole Ellin, but WestConn responded with five straight goals. After Bard cut the lead to 5-3, WestConn pushed it back to 8-3. And Bard scored four of the last five goals of the first half to trim to deficit to 10-8 at halftime. It was a battle.

But WestConn scored the first eight goals of the second half to put the game away. Destinee Carey (New Milford, CT) led the winners with six goals three assists, nine draw controls and six caused turnovers; Olivia Kosilla (Ellington, CT) added five goals and four assists.

Bard got five goals from Ellin, three goals and an assist from freshman Caleigh DeCaprio, and a goal and two assists from freshman Melissa Rosenthal. Ellin, Dylan McDonald scored a single goal, Rachael Rice and Marion Adams collected two ground balls apiece, and Kaylynn Tran made 11 saves.

Up next for Bard is a home game on Saturday against Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. That game will be played at Dietz Stadium in Kingston at 3 p.m. Follow it via Live Stats right here.