The women’s ice hockey team split a two-game set with Utica College this past weekend, winning the first game 1-0 while dropping the second one 2-1. The victory on Saturday was the Cardinals’ first of the season and first for new head coach Jodi McKenna. It was also the first victory for Wesleyan over Utica in five career meetings.

The team entered the weekend desperately needing to get into the win column. After a good week of practice following a rocky 0-4 start, the Cardinals came in with confidence. This was evident from the opening face-off on Friday.

“It was really good to finally get a win after the loss to Williams,” said Julia Cohen ’09. We came into this weekend ready to go.”

Utica came into the weekend as one of the nation’s top scoring teams, averaging an astounding six goals per game. However, in the first game Wesleyan was able to completely shut down the Pioneer offense behind the third career shutout for Rachel Stemerman ’09, who made 39 saves in the contest.

“The defense played a great team game, and [Stemerman] played really well,” Cohen said.

The game was extremely defensive-minded, as the teams skated to a scoreless tie for more than 55 minutes. This tie was eventually broken at 15:16 of the third period on a great individual effort from Conner Brennan ’10. Brennan carried the puck deep into the Utica zone on a great feed from Leah Coe ’11 and was able to beat the Utica goalkeeper to tally the eventual game winner.

Utica tried frantically to tie it in the final minutes, pulling its goalie for an extra skater. The effort was aided by a Wesleyan penalty that provided Utica with a two-man advantage for the final 1:43 in regulation. However, the Cardinals’ defense held strong to give them their first victory of the season.

“It was really important for us to finally get a victory,” Cohen said. “It was good to get the weekend off to a good start.”

In the second game played on Sunday afternoon, Utica came in looking for revenge. Wesleyan had other ideas, as they opened the scoring on a nice wrap-around goal from Mallory Cruz ’11 just over five minutes into the contest. With Wesleyan up 1-0, the momentum seemed to shift over to Utica as the team really began pressing the Cardinals.

Utica was able to tie the game at the halfway point of the first period. The scoring ceased until the third period, when a nice play by Utica’s Andrea Maxon provided the game-winning goal. Wesleyan played from behind the rest of the way, but was unable to find the equalizer as the game ended in a 2-1 Utica victory.

Stemerman again put up a stellar performance, turning away 50 shots as the high-powered Utica offense peppered the Wesleyan netminder all day. Wesleyan was out-shot badly in the game, managing just 21 shots on net to the Pioneers 52.

The games this past weekend marked the first two home games for the Cardinals. While they would have enjoyed winning both games, the weekend was a positive step for the team. It was able to get into the win column, and skated stride for stride with one of the better offensive teams in the country.

“Hopefully, we can use the momentum from the weekend as we go on this season,” Cohen said.

Wesleyan will look for another victory this week as they skate against the Crusaders of Holy Cross College on Wednesday, Dec. 5. Puck is set to drop in Worchester, Mass. at 7 p.m.