The women’s hockey team was eliminated from playoff contention this weekend after two losses to NESCAC rivals Colby College and Bowdoin College. The Cardinals were shut out by the Mules 3-0 on Friday night before losing to the Polar Bears 5-3 on Saturday afternoon. In both contests, Wesleyan’s opponents recorded over 50 shots on goal, more than doubling the Cards’ efforts. Wesleyan will be the only team sitting at home during the postseason, as the NESCAC expanded the playoffs this year to include eight teams instead of the previous seven and eliminated the first-round bye for the first-place squad.

In Friday’s game, Colby scored on a power play midway through the first period and never looked back. Wesleyan was unable to capitalize on their two man advantage as the Mules buried a goal in each of the remaining periods to skate off the ice with a 3-0 victory.

On Saturday, Bowdoin arrived for an afternoon face-off. The Polar Bears notched a goal late in the first period, but Wesleyan was able to recover as Hannah Jackson ’09 scored two minutes later on the power play. Bowdoin came out flying in the second, scoring two goals in the first six minutes. Jill Reynolds ’12 was able to put the puck in the net to bring the Cards within one, but the Polar Bears responded less than a minute later to again take a two-goal lead. Five minutes into the third, Bowdoin’s Dominique Lozzi recorded her 11th goal of the season and third of the game for a hat trick. With two minutes left in the contest, Wesleyan tried to battle back as Sena Ito ’11 lit the lamp, but it was too late.

The game ended with Bowdoin on top 5-3. Jackson skated off the ice with a goal and two assists, and Wesleyan’s special teams were given a boost with a power-play goal and perfect penalty killing. Julia Cohen ’09 and Ito also had strong games, recording two points each. Bowdoin is undefeated in its last 21 games against the Cardinals; Wesleyan’s last win over the Polar Bears came on Dec. 5, 1998 in a 4-3 overtime victory in Brunswick.

Cardinal goaltender Rachel Stemerman ’09 was back in the crease after missing two games last weekend due to injury. She recorded 51 saves in each game, almost a save a minute. These two matches brought her season total to seven games with 50 or more saves. With 818 saves in 1075 minutes played this season, Stemerman has passed the former record, which was 775 saves in one year by Emma DeSimone ’01. Stemerman now stands fourth in NCAA Division III history with 2,907 career saves.

On Tuesday, the team travels to Salve Regina University for a non-conference game. The Cards have the upcoming weekend off before finishing their season with a trip to Middlebury and Williams.