While the women’s soccer team had by all accounts a successful season, they were unable to seal the deal on the ultimate stage, falling to Amherst 3-0 in an away semifinal game that ended their chances at a NESCAC championship.

For the first half of the game, it looked as though Wesleyan might be able to pull off an improbable upset of undefeated Amherst, thanks in large part to the continually stellar play of keeper Jessica Tollman ’15. Her seven first half saves kept the Cardinals in the game, but the second half proved much more challenging than the first.

Amherst’s heralded offence came out firing on all cylinders in the second half and put them in pole position after just three minutes of play. While the game stayed within Wesleyan’s grasp for the next 20 minutes, Amherst notched another goal in the 70th minute. If that didn’t put the nail in the coffin, then their next goal, a banger that slipped past Tollman off of a rebound, certainly did.

The Lord Jeffs would go on to beat Williams 2-1 in the Championship match between the number 1 and 2 seeds.

Wes should feel no shame in losing to a team whose record now stands at a lofty 10-0-0 in conference, and an unbelievable 17-0-0 including non-conference play. To add onto the accolades that stellar play by the Wes women has earned, leading goal scorer and candidate for NESCAC Player of the Year Laura Kurash ’13 was named to the First Team District 2 Academic All-American, with a chance to be on the nationwide team. With leading scorer Kurash and runner-up Kerry Doyle ’14 returning, along with a roster comprised of mostly sophomores and freshmen, the team hopes to see improvement and a culture of success continue to permeate their efforts in the future.

Wes will graduate four seniors, defenders Hannah Stuckey ’12 and Barrie Lindsey ’12 along with goalkeeper Clair Colton ’12 and forward Emma Nitzberg ’12; and congratulates them for their four great years of contribution to the program.