As most students were packing their bags for Thanksgiving break, the women’s hockey team was gearing up for its first two home games of the season. Wesleyan hosted Amherst on Friday, Nov. 22 and Saturday, Nov. 23. The Cardinals dropped the first game 3-2 and played Amherst to a scoreless draw in the second.

The Cardinals got off to a rocky start in the first game of the two-game series. Amherst scored the first three goals of the game, taking a 3-0 lead with 11:48 remaining in the second period. Wesleyan finally answered two minutes later, when Caitlin Bray ’15 netted a goal through several defenders coming off assists from Hannah Jellinek ’15 and Ellery Sarosi ’17. Jellinek later scored on a power play early in the third period, drawing the score to 3-2.

Neither team was able to score from that point onward, despite the Cardinals’ desperate ploy of pulling goalie Laura Corcoran ’16 in favor of having another offensive player on the ice. Corcoran recorded 25 saves before being taken out.

The shot differential, which was problematic for Wesleyan the weekend before facing Williams, again worked against them. Amherst won the shot differential 28-21 in the game.

For Amherst, the victory extended its streak of consecutive wins against Wesleyan to 20 games. This was a trend Wesleyan sought to break in the second game of the set.

After having given up three early goals in the first game, the Cardinals’ defense toughened up dramatically. This was largely on the strength of Corcoran’s play in goal; she recorded saves on all 42 of Amherst’s shots on goal. Her effort ensured Wesleyan’s second ever shutout of Amherst and was impressive enough that Corcoran earned NESCAC Player of the Week honors.

Unfortunately, Wesleyan was unable to muster up any goals of its own—the Cards managed just 23 shots—and the game ended in a 0-0 tie. So, while Amherst saw its long winning streak in games against Wesleyan slip away, it extended its unbeaten streak against the Cardinals to 21.

Still, there is hope for this squad; the Cardinals went 2-14 last year, but they’re already 1-2-1 with a big win over Williams and the recent draw. Wesleyan need only beat out one team in the regular season standings to make playoffs, which is what the team failed to do in its previous campaign.

With their first four games behind them, the Cardinals have shown they can be seriously competitive in NESCAC games. The question going forward is whether they will be able to earn enough wins to make playoffs, signaling a start to the rebuilding of the program. The Cardinals will not have to begin answering that question for a bit more than a month; they next take the ice in a NESCAC game against Middlebury on Friday, Jan. 10.