The women’s hockey team’s season came to a sudden end last weekend as a pair of losses at Colby left the Cardinals out of the NESCAC tournament. Wesleyan (4-16-4, 2-10-4 NESCAC) finished tied for seventh place with Trinity (4-12-0 NESCAC), but the Bantams earned the tiebreaker and the final seed in the NESCAC tournament based on goal differential.

Wesleyan has now missed the postseason for three consecutive seasons after qualifying in each of the three previous seasons before the streak.

Friday’s game started with a Colby penalty just 1:11 in, but the Cardinals failed to capitalize on the ensuing power play. Wesleyan was then whistled for two hooking penalties but killed both Colby power plays. The Mules finally broke through following the second power play, scoring 9:32 into the first for the 1-0 lead.

Colby added another goal with 4:07 remaining in the second period after going scoreless on two more power plays. The Mules were whistled for three penalties in the third, but Wesleyan failed again to score on the three power plays. The Cardinals pulled goalie Rachel Stemerman ’09 with 1:26 remaining in the game, but a tripping penalty forced Stemerman to return for the final eight seconds of the 2-0 loss.

291 miles from Middletown, Colby is geographically the furthest NESCAC institution from Wesleyan. The Cards traveled that distance in a five-hour bus ride Friday afternoon, which possibly affected their performance Friday night.

“I think that Friday’s loss had a lot to do with being on the bus for so long and not getting a great warm-up in before the game,” said Izzy Huston ’10. “It didn’t allow us to focus mentally beforehand.”

Meanwhile, first-place Middlebury whitewashed Trinity 8-0 on Friday night, keeping the Bantams deadlocked with Wesleyan in the race for the final playoff seed. Saturday’s loss eliminated the Cards completely.

Colby wasted no time getting on the board, scoring just 3:48 into the game. Forty seconds later, Julia Kazmers ’08 lit the lamp to tie the game. Both teams killed a power play to keep the score 1-1 at the first intermission.

Colby scored 3:29 into the second and again at 5:16 to increase its lead to 3-1, but the Cardinals bounced back. Conner Brannen ’10 scored her fifth goal with 6:46 remaining to cut the lead, and Hannah Jackson ’09 scored with sixteen seconds left in the period to re-tie the game.

The Cardinals were whistled for three penalties in the third. They killed the first two, but the third power play was the charm for Colby. Molly Adams ’07 was called for body checking with 2:57 to go, and Colby scored 28 seconds into the power play for the 4-3 lead. The Cardinals pulled Stemerman with 1:11 left but were unable to score the equalizer.

“Saturday was just a bad break for us,” Huston said. “We played one of the best games we have all season. One [goal] just went in at the wrong time.”

In some respects, the series served as a microcosm of the Cardinals’ season. Colby had a 70-36 shot advantage. On the season, the Cardinals’ were out-shot by their opponents 908-496. Wesleyan also went 0-7 on the power play over the weekend and converted only ten of its 113 power plays on the season, a NESCAC-worst 8.8 percent.

“We had a hard time scoring overall this season,” said head coach Donna Wright. “Power play [was] no exception. We managed to score more goals this year than last [44-27], and we are continuing to build. It is all part of the rebuilding process.”

The Cardinals’ 4-3 loss on Saturday also dropped them to 1-4-4 in games decided by one goal this season, including 0-1-4 in overtime. Because the team missed the playoffs by only one point, this statistic looms large.

“It is disappointing,” says Wright. “The team worked very hard this season, however, and we have made a lot of progress this year.”

In a bright spot, however, Stemerman made 64 saves over the weekend to give her 612 for the season. Stemerman, Hillary Schreiber ’09, and Alix Strasnick ’10 combined for a NESCAC-leading 826 saves on the season, and Stemerman’s 612 individual saves also led the conference.

Stemerman finished with a .916 save percentage and 3.13 goals-against average. She made 47 saves to help the team tie Middlebury for just the second time in 36 all-time meetings and made 34 stops against Connecticut College to record her second career shutout.

“She was huge,” Huston said. “Stem stands on her head for us every game, and she’s such an important factor for our team.”

The team’s overall record of 4-16-4 represents a three-game improvement over last year’s 2-19-2 mark, and the potential for further progress exists. Although the team will lose four seniors, the team’s top six scorers will return next year, as will all three of its goalies.

“I think that our program is definitely on the rise,” Huston said. We have a lot of talented freshmen coming in, and everyone on our team is really close. I think we have the skill to improve and really make an impact in the NESCAC next year.“