After 15 games, Wesleyan field hockey’s season has come to an end. Though the team experienced mixed results, the Red and Black were able to play through highs and lows and set up a promising future for the years to come.

The Cards opened the season with a narrow 1–2 defeat in a non-conference matchup against Worcester Polytechnic Institute on Tuesday, Sept. 6. After a scoreless first quarter, Georgia Adams ’26 landed the first goal of the game four minutes into the second off a pass from captain Diana Schwarz ’23. The Cards continued to dominate throughout the half, with seven shots and zero from WPI. However, by the second half of the game, the Engineers began to pick up steam and managed two goals in the fourth quarter to win the game. 

The next week, however, the Cards showed their resilience and came back with an impressive 3–1 victory over Colby on Saturday, Sept. 10 in the team’s first 1–0 start to NESCAC competition since the 2010 season. The Red and Black’s first goal of the game came from Adams who received the ball from a deflection off of Addie Defeo ’24’s stick with just six seconds left in the first quarter. Diana Schwarz then earned the Cardinals their second goal at the end of the second quarter off an Adams back pass, which the Mules quickly followed up with a goal of their own to bring the score to 2–1. But the Cardinals remained undeterred, and came back with another goal from a corner in the fourth quarter by Annabel Cincotta ’25 assisted by captain Leah Ewers ’23, to secure the win for the Red and Black.

Diana Schwarz identified the game against Colby as one of the team’s top performances.

“It was a solid performance out of us and it was just nice to walk away from that game after a rough loss against WPI knowing that we were able to compete against top teams,” Diana Schwarz said. “I think Colby’s one of the best reflections of how talented we were.”

With the tide turning in their favor, the Cards held onto their momentum and completely dominated Wheaton College on Saturday, Sept. 17, winning 6–0. With Diana Schwarz scoring just two minutes in, the Red and Black took an early lead and maintained their advantage throughout the game. Rounding out the scoring was Ava Galdenzi ’24 producing two goals, with the first coming in the first quarter off of a beautiful pass from Helen Deretchin ’25 and the second sealing the deal at the end of the game by deflecting a shot from Imani Ochieng ’25, and Lois Schwarz ’23 scoring her first goal of the season by extending the Cards’ lead to five. The Cardinals’ defense also shined, with Wheaton managing only one shot on goal the entire game. 

Unfortunately, the Red and Black later found themselves facing some of the stiffest competition of the season. The team went on to a four game losing streak against top-ranked teams in the country, including No. 3 Tufts (1–2), No. 5 Trinity (1–3), Hamilton (2–4), and No. 1 Middlebury (0–7). 

These were difficult games against competitive players, but the Cards kept a positive attitude about their performance. Lois Schwarz pointed to the game against Tufts in particular as an example of how, despite the score sheet, the team was still playing well.

“Tufts has always been a really good team,” Lois Schwarz said. “They’re top five in the nation, they’re super strong. The NESCAC is so competitive in field hockey that most of the NESCAC ends up being ranked. Which is a great thing but it’s also not the best thing in the world because it means you’re always playing super competitive teams. Tufts is one of those teams, and we played so well against them. It was the beginning of the season, so it paved the way for us to have confidence in our team.” 

Fueled by their tenacious spirit, the Cards were able to bounce back with an incredible 3–2 overtime victory against Roger Williams College on Wednesday, Oct. 5. Wesleyan led 2–0 coming into the fourth quarter with goals by Adams assisted by Diana Schwarz and Deretchin in the second quarter and Melanie Lim ’24 assisted by Deretchin in the third. The Hawks managed to tie up the score at the very end of the fourth, sending the game into overtime, but the Red and Black remained resilient with Deretchin scoring the game winning goal eight minutes into overtime, securing Wesleyan’s victory. 

This excellent performance was followed by another series of losses due to the competitive line-up against more nationally ranked teams, from No. 7 Amherst (1–3), No. 14 Bates (2–3), No. 9 Babson (0–1), and No. 11 Williams (1–2), the final game being the team’s Senior Day. 

But once again, the Red and Black snapped out of their losing streak with an out of conference game against Salve Regina College, where they pulled out a phenomenal 8–4 win over the Gulls, crushing their previous season-high tally for total goals scored in a single game. Their offense exploded in the first half, bringing the score to 5–2 in just thirty minutes. Cincotta and Diana Schwarz brought the heat early, with two goals in the first quarter alone. 

After Salve Regina managed a goal, Ochieng retaliated by scoring mere seconds later and maintaining the offensive pressure. Addie Defeo ’24 and Kenzie Kelly ’25 added to the Cards’ first-half scoring tally. While the Gulls attempted to slim the Cards’ mounting lead, Diana Schwarz, Ewers, and Cincotta cemented their killer offense with three more goals in the second half. This match marked the first time the Red and Black have produced more than 40 shots on goal since 2010. 

Having wrapped up their non-conference games, the team turned to their final two games of the season against Bowdoin and Connecticut College. 

On Saturday, Oct. 22, the Cards faced off against No. 16 nationally ranked Bowdoin and suffered a 5–1 loss. After a shaky start, the Cards gained momentum in the second half, outshooting the Polar Bears 10–8 in the last two quarters. However they were unable to close the gap and landed their sole goal of the game in the fourth quarter in a redirected shot by Diana Schwarz assisted by Ochieng.

The Red and Black closed their season on Tuesday, Nov. 3 against in-state rival Conn College. The first half saw back and forth action and resulted in a tied score of 3–3 with two goals by Diana Schwarz and one from Cincotta assisted by Ochieng. The Camels picked up steam in the second half, scoring three consecutive goals to secure the lead, but the Cardinals continued to apply pressure, with Deretchin adding their fourth goal of the day at the end of the fourth period with an assist by Diana Schwarz. The Red and Black sadly faced a 4-7 loss to the Camels. 

While reflecting on the season as a whole, Diana Schwarz is already looking ahead to the future of the team. She recalled what her coach said to the team while debriefing and how those words impact the way she thinks about leaving the time behind after four years.

“The 2022 team is going to pave the way for future success, because I feel like we laid such a good foundation of work ethic,” Diana Schwarz said. “I feel like now is the time that we go on the uphill and it’s unfortunate because we’re leaving, but it’s nice to feel like we started something. I’m happy with how we left [the program] in the sense that there’s so much room for growth.”

Cameron Bonnevie can be reached at cbonnevie@wesleyan.edu. 

Erin Byerly can be reached at ebyerly@wesleyan.edu.