The women’s soccer team climbed up rapidly in the NESCAC standings this weekend with a scoreless tie against Little Three rival Amherst College on Saturday, Oct. 19 and a 2-0 win against Trinity College on Tuesday, Oct. 22. The Cardinals, who were in last place going into the weekend, jumped up into a tie for seventh in the NESCAC, currently good for a playoff spot.
In the game at Amherst, the Wesleyan defense once again stepped up against an extremely potent NESCAC offense. Going into the matchup, the Lord Jeffs were ranked 23rd in Division III women’s soccer. However, the Cardinals pulled off their third shutout of the season to that point when they staved off the powerful Amherst offense.
Goalkeeper Jessica Tollman ’15 made three saves in the game, which lasted 110 minutes of scoreless play through two overtimes. Amherst outshot Wesleyan 17-5 on the day, but the Cardinal defense was stellar all game, as Amherst ended with only three shots on goal.
The game against the Jeffs served as yet another example of Wesleyan’s impressive defense this year. Tollman currently ranks second in the NESCAC in saves made, third in save percentage and fourth in goals against average, allowing only .64 goals per ninety minutes of play.
However, no statistics can express the strength of Wesleyan’s back line of defense, made up of Marisa Yang ’16, Kerry Doyle ’14, Carly Swenson ’17, and Kaylie Williams ’16. Head coach Eva Meredith praised her team’s ability to work as a unit on defense more than anything else.
“It’s more of a team effort,” she said. “If I were to give a key to our success, I would give the names of all four or five defensive players on any given day. Everybody who has played in the back has just stepped up tremendously.”
The tie marked the third time this year that Wesleyan has come to a draw with a NESCAC opponent. It was the Cards’ fourth draw overall this year, which is part of the reason they have been able to stay competitive for a NESCAC playoff spot with only a couple of wins so far.
“I think getting away with a point after playing [Amherst] at their place is a great feat,” Meredith said. “That’s definitely a result we can be happy with.”
Wesleyan’s strong defense continued into its game on Tuesday at Trinity, where the Cardinals were able to rack up their first win in NESCAC play this season. Going into practice on Monday, Meredith emphasized the team’s need to bounce back and recover physically after playing such a long game at Amherst just three days before facing Trinity.
The Cardinals must have been able to recover nicely, as the offense broke out from a four-game scoreless streak in the win. Both Tess Daggett-Edenholm ’17 and Victoria Matthews ’16 scored goals in the second half, while Sarah Sylla ’17 and Hannah Knudsen ’14 racked up assists.
In the 63rd minute, Sylla was able to complete a pass to Daggett-Edenholm in the box, where the midfielder was able to poke a quick shot past the Bantam goalkeeper for Wesleyan’s first goal of the day. The game stayed 1-0 until the 79th minute, when Knudsen made a seemingly routine pass to Matthews before Matthews rocketed a shot at the goal from close to 40 yards out. The strike found its way to the back of the net to double the Cardinals’ lead and ultimately put the game away.
Matthews’ goal was her team-leading third of the year, and Daggett-Edenholm registered the first of her college career. Both Knudsen and Sylla registered their first assists of the year for Wesleyan as well.
The win puts the Cards at 2-6-4 this season, and 1-4-3 in the NESCAC, which puts them in a position for a playoff spot. It is an extremely tight race for the two final playoff spots in the NESCAC this year, as Wesleyan, Hamilton, Conn College, Colby, and Bates are all separated by only two points. Each team has only two games remaining in the season, so the last week of regular season play will be crucial in deciding who ends up in playoffs.
Wesleyan plays its final regular season home game of the year this Saturday, Oct. 26. against Middlebury. The game will be a tough test for the Cardinals, as Middlebury is currently in first place in the NESCAC by a wide margin.