The women’s ice hockey team watched its last hopes of making the NESCAC playoffs fade away this weekend with a pair of losses to conference foe Hamilton College. When they traveled to Clinton, NY, this weekend, the Cardinals were still in contention, but dropping the front end of the two-game set knocked the team out of the playoff picture.
“It was a disappointing weekend,” said Adrienne Shea ’08. “We lost our chance at making the playoffs, which was definitely everyone’s goal this year, and it was also very frustrating to continue showing up to NESCAC games and not putting together whole efforts of our best hockey.”
Wesleyan came out with the desperation needed to stay in the playoff hunt, and struck first blood as Jessica Fischer ’08 netted a power-play goal at the 12:22 mark of the opening period. After killing two penalties to end the period, the Cardinals went to the locker room very satisfied with their play up 1-0.
This edge did not last long, however, as Hamilton’s Kathryn Kroleski put one home just 40 seconds into the second period. It was at this point that Wesleyan seemed to let down a bit and lose its momentum. With the score knotted and the Cards skating back on their heels, Hamilton gained the upper edge in play. It out-shot the Cards 23-4 in the second period, with Rachel Stemerman ’09 forced to make 22 saves in the period alone.
“When they scored their first goal, we let down a little bit,” Shea said. “Then we got two penalties, one resulting in a five-on-three, and after that we never gained back our momentum.”
Entering the third period with the score tied at one, Wesleyan’s season was on the line. While the period again saw a large disparity in shots on goal, the score remained knotted into the very late stages. Stemerman continued to play exceptionally well, finishing with 46 saves overall. However, the tie would be broken by Hamilton’s Lauren Tomford with just about three minutes left in the game, leaving the Cards the remaining few minutes to try and salvage their season.
In a desperate attempt to tie the game and save its season, Wesleyan pulled its goaltender for an extra skater. The attempt was fruitless, as Hamilton put away the game with an empty-net tally. That made the final score 3-1, and officially knocked the Cardinals from playoff contention.
“[Stemerman] played incredible both games,” Shea said. “She makes every save that she’s supposed to, and almost all of the ones that she’s really not supposed to. We pulled her at the end to try for an equalizer, but they scored on the empty net and knocked us out.”
After being officially eliminated from playoff contention, the Wesleyan came out on Sunday playing for pride. While the Cards played a more consistent game, they still found themselves on the wrong side of a 1-0 final score. Stemerman was again brilliant in goal, making 41 saves, but the second-period goal from Hamilton’s Cindy Lukianchuk proved to be the only tally of the match.
“We played a much more consistent game on Sunday,” Shea said. “But it still wasn’t our best hockey. To lose two really close games is always difficult.”
Wesleyan will look to end the season on a positive note when it plays Middlebury and Williams at home this coming weekend. Though it will be the last two games of the season, the Cards are ready to play them hard.
“We’re just focused at having a real good week at practice,” Shea said. “At this point, we have nothing to lose, so it should be a fun weekend.”