With the end of the regular season closing in, Wesleyan women’s ice hockey needed every win against a NESCAC competitor that it could get in order to make it into the postseason tournament. The Cardinals were in ninth in the conference when they entered play against Colby; they needed to crack the top eight in order to qualify for NESCAC postseason play.
Heading into this weekend, the Colby Mules were eighth in the NESCAC, one place ahead of the Cardinals. This heightened the stakes for the weekend’s pair of matches. If Wesleyan had won both, the Cardinal women would have overtaken the Mules in the standings. Unfortunately, luck was not on their side.
The Mules’ speed on offense helped to tip the scales in their favor in the first match of the weekend. Colby struck early, scoring the first goal of the match 15 minutes into the first period and following up with another goal a little over a minute later. The Cardinals fought back in the second period when sophomore Jordan Schildhaus, assisted by Cara Jankoswki ’15, put one past Colby’s goaltender. That was ultimately the Cardinals’ lone goal in the game, and Colby walked away from this match with a 2-1 victory.
Wesleyan also fell to Colby in the second match of the weekend. Despite some superb goaltending on the part of Ashleigh Corvi ’13, the deft wrists of the Mules put three goals into the net. The Cardinals were scoreless in this match.
Wesleyan still stands at ninth and last place in NESCAC standings, with a conference record of 2-12-0. Even after their two wins over Wesleyan, Colby remains in eight place, with a record of 4-10 in conference play. Though each team still has two conference games remaining in regular season play, the Mules now hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over Wesleyan after this weekend’s wins. Even if the Cardinals do manage to catch up to Colby in the standings, they will not be eligible for NESCAC Championship play.
The Cardinals take on Trinity for the first of their two matches in Hartford on Friday, Feb. 16. They will again face the Bantams when they finish off the season at home on Saturday, Feb. 15.