Wesleyan field hockey is picking up momentum. After a series of hard-fought losses against No. 10 Williams, No. 3 Tufts, and No. 12 Bowdoin, the team finally managed to break their losing streak in a stunning win over No. 8 Trinity on September 28th.

Diana Schwarz ’23 managed to tie up the score with only four minutes left, sending the game into overtime. But with two overtime periods gone with no goals, the teams went into a nail-biting, best-of-five penalty shootout. Ultimately, the Cards were able to clinch the victory, winning 2–1 in the shootout with goals by Melanie Lim ’24 and Helen Deretchin ’25.

This victory earned the Red and Black their first NESCAC win, and was Trinity’s first loss of the season. It was also the second season in a row that the Cards beat a Top 10 ranked NESCAC team at home, following their 2019 victory over then No. 5 ranked Tufts.

Captain Colleen Carrigan ’22 said she thinks that the team’s determination and spirit fueled their victory against Trinity.

“Our mindset going into the Trinity game was very much based off of our last three games and everything we learned from those losses,” Carrigan said. “Although we lost those three NESCAC games we talked a lot about all the personal team goals that we were able to accomplish and that definitely lifted our spirits. After that, as a team, we were able to recognize how much we have improved and how hard we have been working and just kinda went into the Trinity game thinking ‘why not us’.”

Captain Leah Ewers ’23 added that the victory was the result of a mindset change for the team.

“It showed us that we could compete in the NESCAC, it was just frustrating that we weren’t executing in the NESCAC,” Ewers said. “We took the next few days after Bowdoin to really reflect and say ‘we can’t be losing 4-0 to a team that’s very similar to us’ and since then we’ve had a really positive mentality in practice and have been having really good, positive practices. We sort of changed our mindset going into the Trinity game.”

The Cards were able to keep up their stellar play, following their win against Trinity with a 2–0 victory against Wheaton College on September 20th, with goals by Schwarz, who is the team’s top scorer this season with six goals so far, and Ava Galdenzi ’23, the team’s second-highest scorer with three total.

Head Coach Christine Kemp said that the win over Trinity helped the Cardinals gain momentum going into the Wheaton game.

“Coming off a big win always helps boost confidence and allows us to see what we are capable of,” Kemp said. “Both teams are very different so that adjustment was challenging but otherwise winning always helps!”

Ewers noted that the team was able to transition easily from an in-conference win to an out-of-conference game.

“Definitely NESCAC games are sort of a different breed just because the NESCAC has so much more competitive field hockey,” Ewers said. “When we play out of conference it’s not that we take the game lightly at all and we definitely had momentum from the Trinity game. We dominated that entire [Wheaton] game. We definitely could have won 6-0 but a win’s a win so we’ll take it.”

Going forward, the Cards are confident that they will be able to keep up this competitive streak as long as they maintain their determined and passionate energy.

“Our goal for the remainder of the season is just to continue to improve and win. We know how hard we have worked and want to be able to show that to the other NESCACs,” Carrigan said.

Ewers said she foresees even matchups in the team’s future.

“Definitely all the games that we have left are all winnable,” Ewers said. “That’s really exciting, also a little bit scary, because it’s going to be a lot of us against ourselves because we know we can beat them at our best. We just have to figure out how we can perform at our best for all the games. This year is the best I’ve ever seen us play and I think we have a really good shot of winning our next few games and making it to playoffs.”

Looking forward, the team has a number of opportunities to show off their skills and spirit, with their next matchup against Amherst on Saturday, October 9th at home. Following that, their next two NESCAC games are against Bates and Colby on the 16th and 17th, respectively.

“This season is centered around the true ‘team’ mentality. We have so much depth that we can lean on and trust each other on the field,” Carrigan said. “We celebrate everyone’s contributions, even those of players who might be injured or not play as much, because we know that we are stronger together, no matter what.”

Erin Byerly can be reached at ebyerly@wesleyan.edu