In the lone soccer game played by either Wesleyan team this past week, the Wes women charged to victory over out-of-conference opponent St. Mary’s College (Maryland) in a back-and-forth contest decided in the span of three minutes. While all of the goals were scored between the 63rd and 66th minutes, the game was rife with chances throughout and ended with Wesleyan winning 2-1.
The game belonged to the class of 2013, as quad-captain Laura Kurash ’13 and Mikaela Curtin ’13 each contributed an assist to the other. Kurash’s goal opened up the scoring at 63:50 when she received a pass from Curtin, and after possessing the ball, fired home Wesleyan’s first goal and her 11th of the year. This tied her for the league lead in goals scored (with Middlebury’s Scarlett Kirk) and secures her the outright lead in points contributed with 24. St. Mary’s answered a mere 30 seconds later on a rebound off the crossbar. Less than a minute after that goal, Curtin deposited the final tally of the day. Hannah Stone ’15 added her first assist, as she made a throw in to Kurash, who moved the ball along to Curtin for her second score of the year, courtesy of a shot from 12 yards out.
Except for the one goal, Wesleyan’s keeper Jessica Tollman ’15 continued to impress, stopping five shots. Earning this tough victory will prove to be an important stepping stone for the Wesleyan women, who look like they are hitting their stride at just the right time. With three tough conference games against Connecticut College, Amherst, and Trinity coming up, Wesleyan will likely determine its own play-off rank. Hopefully the momentum that the team is currently running with will serve it well. The team will travel to Conn College on Wednesday before visiting Amherst on Saturday and finishing up the regular season at home against Trinity next Tuesday.