Following a pair of weekend losses to Amherst and Connecticut College, the women’s hockey team sits at 2-16-1 on the year (1-10-1 in NESCAC play) and is currently saddled with a nine-game losing streak. Wesleyan will look to get back on track this weekend as conference foes Colby and Bowdoin come to Middletown.

Both weekend contests were played without a familiar face in net for the Cardinals. Netminder Rachel Stemerman ’09 was injured in Wesleyan’s previous game, a home contest with Hamilton on Jan. 25, forcing forward Emily Avener ’09 to fill in for the final two periods of that game. Stemerman was not medically cleared to play over the weekend, so Avener was between the pipes in both games.

Wesleyan and Amherst had met at Amherst on Jan. 10, with the Lord Jeffs coming away with a 2-0 win. The Lord Jeffs jumped on the board just over five minutes into this game, giving them all the offense they would need. Amherst added two goals in the second period and two more in the third to put the game away. Wesleyan mustered just seven shots in the 5-0 loss, including one in the third period. Meanwhile, Amherst fired 51 shots at Avener, including 20 in the second and third periods. Wesleyan had been outshot 56-11 in the first game, giving the Lord Jeffs a 107-18 advantage in shots overall in the teams’ two battles.

The shutout was Amherst’s fourth straight and fifth in its last six games against Wesleyan, which last scored against the Lord Jeffs on Nov. 26, 2006. The Cards have not lit the lamp in the last 245:41 of action against their Little Three rival. Wesleyan, however, is far from the only conference team to feel the Lord Jeffs’ fury lately, as Amherst is 36-0-7 in its last 43 NESCAC games, including postseason contests.

The Cardinals were back in action Saturday, hosting Conn. College. Wesleyan had defeated the Camels 3-2 on Jan. 9 for its only conference win of the season to date. In that game, the Cardinals had scored the first two goals of the contest en route to the victory. The visitors again jumped out to a 2-0 lead this time, as the Camels took a 2-0 first-period lead they would not relinquish. Conn. College added three more goals in the second frame for a commanding 5-0 lead.

Wesleyan, however, did not back down, as the Cardinals scored twice early in the third frame to slice the Camels’ lead to 5-2. Eliza Worthley ’09 found Sena Ito ’11 for a wrister through the five-hole 4:32 in, and Hannah Jackson ’09 scored off a feed from Jill Reynolds ’12 1:29 later, leading to a Conn. College timeout. Wesleyan kept the onslaught going, as Heather Lindgren ’11 added a power-play tally at 11:24 to make it a 5-3 game.

“Scoring three goals so quickly was a huge rush for everyone, and I think we all felt like we could definitely tie things up,” Jackson said.

Wesleyan would get no closer, however, while the Camels added a pair of goals 41 seconds apart to secure the 7-3 win.

“We are very well matched teams and the big difference between this game and the first was that we didn’t come to play until the third period,” Jackson said. “By the third period, it was too little too late, but I’m proud that we were able to pick up the intensity and remind them that the first game wasn’t a fluke.”

One notable bright spot for Wesleyan over the weekend was Avener, who made 46 saves in both games in her first and second career starts. Jackson praised Avener’s focus during the week and ability to adjust to a completely different position than her usual one.

“Avener was amazing this weekend and the entire week leading up to it,” Jackson said. “She came in twice a day to prepare for the weekend not knowing if [Stemerman] would make it back and improved immensely from one day to the next. I wish we had been able to play better in front of her and really give her the support that she had given all of us.”

The team now turns its attention to the impending home games against the Maine schools. Both teams have defeated Wesleyan this season; Colby took a 3-1 decision in Waterville on Jan. 18, while the Polar Bears took down Wesleyan 3-0 in the last game ever played in Bowdoin’s Dayton Arena. Last season, however, Wesleyan avenged a 6-1 loss at Bowdoin with a 2-2 home tie that snapped a 17-game losing streak to the Polar Bears.

Jackson noted that the Cardinals will need to bring their best play and are anxious to send off the senior class with a win on Saturday afternoon.

“I think Bowdoin is very similar to us in that they’ve fought hard in a lot of close games but not come out with the wins,” she said. “We are very excited to get a second chance at them both and to win we will need to create better offensive opportunities, especially off of rebounds, while defensively we will need to keep tight gaps and communicate more effectively.”