It was a somewhat fitting end to a difficult year for the women’s ice hockey team this past weekend, as the squad found itself on the wrong side of its final two contests. The first defeat came at the hands of Williams on Friday night, and the second came against Middlebury on Saturday afternoon. The losses set the sun on a disappointing year in which the Cardinals never found their stride.

“It was frustrating that we really underachieved this year,” said Adrienne Shea ’08.

As has been the case all year, during the Williams game, Wesleyan was plagued by a lack of consistency and a sustained offensive threat, as it managed to generate only 10 shots on goal during the entire contest. Putting this into perspective, Williams put 45 shots on goal, out-shooting the Cardinals by 35.

One bright spot for Wesleyan was between the pipes, as Rachel Stemerman ’09 was able to turn away 42 shots to keep her team in the game. She allowed only a power play goal and a shorthanded breakaway goal on an overall brilliant night in net. It marked the fourth consecutive game in which Stemerman made 40-plus saves, and the tenth time in the year. The other Williams tally came on the empty net as the Cardinals tried to tie the score in the final moments.

The only Wesleyan goal came off of the stick of Hannah Jackson ’09 in the third period, which trimmed the Williams lead to 2-1. Jackson upped her point total to 17 on the season, good for first on the team. However, the Cardinals could find no more offense en route to the defeat. The Cards lost 3-1.

“Against Williams, we were really flat and we seemed to just be going through the motions,” Shea said. “We couldn’t mount an effective attack, and we were really scrambling in the defensive zone.”

Coming out against Middlebury the next day, Wesleyan knew that it would need a better team effort to send the seniors off right in their last game donning the Wesleyan red and black. However, the Cards lost 5-1.

“Williams and Middlebury were very different games,” Shea said. “On Saturday, we really turned it around—it was our last game, and we always seem to play Middlebury well.”

After a decent first period, Wesleyan found itself down 2-0. In the second, Julia Cohen ’09 netted what would be the final score by a Cardinal during the year to trim the lead to 2-1. The Panthers scored one more in the second and two more in the third for the final score.

Stemerman made 27 saves against Middlebury, upping her season total to 760 and her game average to an astounding 34.5. Her 760 saves rank second all-time for a season total at Wesleyan—missing Emma DeSimone’s ’01 record by only 15 saves.

Although the game did not end well on the scoreboard, the Cardinals were satisfied with their overall performance against a nationally-ranked Panther team that Wesleyan has never beaten in 38 attempts (0-36-2). It was a decent send-off for the senior class.

“The score doesn’t show how well we played,” Shea said. “It was a nice way to go out because we have had a number of games that we just didn’t come to play. The seniors are ending our career on a game where we can be happy with our play and our hustle is satisfying.”

The Cardinals finish the season at 5-16-1 overall with a 1-13-1 NESCAC record—good for last place in the conference. Although it was an extremely disappointing year, Shea said that she sees reasons for maintaining optimism going into next year.

“Although it was frustrating in that we really underachieved this year, there are good signs for the future,” Shea said. “Honestly, many of our losses were not based on a lack of talent.”