c/o Wesleyan Athletics

The women’s soccer team’s shot at their first ever NESCAC championship came up just short last weekend after the team lost to Middlebury in penalty kicks by a final margin of 2-1. Despite the tough loss, the team still qualified for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, which is their first tournament berth in history. The Cardinals will host the regional round of the tournament, starting  this Saturday with a game against 19-1-0 Penn State Behrend.

Before the tough loss in the NESCAC final, Wesleyan defeated third-seeded Hamilton in the semifinals on Nov. 6 by a score of 2-1. Against the Continentals, the Cardinals took the lead 1-0 in the 26th minute as Grace Devanny ’23, who was named NESCAC Player of the Year this week, scored on a header off a pass from captain Emily Ribatt ’21 MA ’22. In the second half, the Red and Black were able to extend their lead to 2-0 as Danielle Soto ’23 scored her first goal of the season in the 80th minute. Wesleyan outshot Hamilton 19-6 and allowed no shots on target throughout the entire game. This win advanced the second-seeded Cards to their first NESCAC championship game in program history on Nov. 7 against the fourth-seeded Panthers.

The game was a closely contested one. Middlebury took the lead 1-0 with just under ten minutes to go in the first half before Wesleyan responded with a goal from Kate Hausladen ’23 to tie up the score less than a minute before halftime. The score remained tied at one throughout the entire second half and overtime, so the game went into a penalty shootout to decide who would take home the NESCAC Championship. In the shootout, Wesleyan fell behind early when the opposing goalkeeper saved their first attempt and the Panthers converted their first two shots. The Cards were then able to tie it up at two after three rounds as Middlebury missed one opportunity, and Caty Clements ’25 and Gianna Argento ’21 MA ’22 both converted from the spot. However, Middlebury stopped the next two Cardinal attempts and converted one of their two to take home the NESCAC championship. On the stat sheet, the Cards outshot the Panthers 21-14. Goalie Sarah Hammond ’22, who was named to the All-NESCAC second team this past week for her efforts in goal this season, made seven saves.

Despite the agonizingly close loss, Ribatt was proud of the team’s performance.

“I think the team played well in both games and gave it our all,” Ribatt wrote in a message to The Argus. “We created so many opportunities and will continue to work on finishing our chances and taking advantage of the pressure we put on other teams this week in practice.”

Even though they lost to the Panthers, Ribatt saw a lot of positives to take away from the experience of playing in such high-pressure games.

“It was an unfortunate outcome, but we had never been in a PK shootout before so it’s always good to gain new experience that we can build on and learn from,” Ribatt wrote. “Again, we created strong chances and pressure in both the semifinal and the final and it gave us great direction for what we can work on and added motivation entering the NCAA tournament.”

Next up, the Cards will host Penn State Behrend in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The winner of this game will take on either Ithaca College or Stevens Institute of Technology on Sunday at Wesleyan. Midfielder Melissa Wilhelm ’22 is confident that the work the team has put in thus far to get to this point in their historic season will power them to victory.

“I think the key to being successful in the NCAA tournament is to play with confidence and intensity right from the whistle,” Wilhelm wrote in a message to The Argus. “We know that when we put the ball down and play our game we can compete with anyone.”

Wilhelm added that even though they have not faced Penn State Behrend before, the most important thing for the team to do is to focus on playing their best game, just as they always have.

“I think the preparation for this weekend is the same as it has been all season,” Wilhelm said. “While it’s important to know another team’s strengths and weaknesses we try to play to our own strengths and not change based on another team and this weekend’s game(s) are no different.”

David Gottlieb can be reached at dgottlieb@wesleyan.edu