Coming into the 2023–24 season, Wesleyan University’s women’s hockey team was ready to take a step up. Last year, the Cardinals’ underwhelming season concluded with a record of 9–15–1, including a 13-game losing streak at the end of the season. 

Defender Jenna Stevens ’24 explained how last year’s losses dealt a blow to the team’s mental game.

“Last season, we got beat down so often,” Stevens said. “It was really hard to look at a game and be excited, or feel like you’ll have a chance of winning.”  

Forward Dylan Green ’26 noted that this year, the Cardinals approached their season determined to improve not just their level of play, but their attitude.

“[The goal was to] improve the team culture and keep morale high throughout the season,” Green said. “And then just chip away each weekend and focus on each game in the present.”

The season opened with mixed results, including a narrow 2–3 overtime loss to Conn. College on Friday, Nov. 17. But the Cardinals rebounded swiftly with a definitive 3–1 victory over the Camels the next day, featuring goals from forward Isabelle Allieri ’25, forward Brigitte Goeler-Slough ’23 MA ’24, and forward Amelia Molin ’27. The next weekend, the Cardinals suffered a 2–4 loss to No. 6 Hamilton on Saturday, Nov. 25.

Despite these early results, the Cardinals knew they were capable of more. 

“At the beginning of the season, it’s kind of hard to get a feel of how we’ll do,” Stevens said. “We’ve been slowly building [up our game] through the season, which is exciting.”

The Cardinals then took a break from NESCAC play and faced a series of non-conference matchups, scoring victories over Vermont State University Castleton (3–2), Worcester State University (3–0), and the University of New England (6–1).  Following this, the Cards had almost a full month off from competition, but returned in January ready to keep their momentum going as they reentered conference play.

“Coming back for January break, I think we really recognized the importance of the season from that point on just being NESCAC games,” goalie Rei Halloran ’23 MA ’24 said. “We were super excited to have the competitiveness of the league coming up.”

At first, the Cardinals continued to encounter difficulties, including a 2–2 OT loss to Conn. College on Jan. 5, followed by a 3–4 loss and a 2–2 OT tie against Williams on Jan. 5 and 6.

But the next weekend, the Cardinals began picking up steam. On Friday, Jan. 12, the Red and Black suffered a 3–4 overtime loss to Bowdoin. The next day, the Cardinals came back to beat the Polar Bears 3–1, with Allieri, captain and forward Christina Tournas ’25, and Stevens all scoring goals. 

With their first conference victory of the year under their belt, the Cardinals faced arguably their biggest challenge of the season: their weekend series against No. 3 Amherst, the 2023 Division III national runner-up. Following a 1–3 loss to the Mammoths on Saturday, Jan. 20, Wesleyan returned with a vengeance on Sunday to beat Amherst 2–1 in a statement win. 

Halfway through the first period, the Red and Black struck first with a goal by forward Shannon Burke ’25, assisted by forwards Effie Tournas ’25 and Caroline Mezias ’25. After a scoreless second, the Mammoths responded with a goal to tie up the score at the start of the third. But with less than four minutes remaining in regulation, Allieri scored her first game-winning goal of the season—assisted by Goeler-Slough and captain and defender Sam DeLeo ’25—to defeat the Mammoths 2–1.  

The victory was the Cardinals’ first win over Amherst on the road since 2000. More significantly, it was the Cardinals’ first win over a top five nationally ranked opponent in program history. Green noted that she was encouraged not only by her team’s level of play, but by their energy during this game.

“In the past, we just haven’t really had that,” Green said. “Everyone was so excited. Everyone was standing on the bench.”

That energy carried Wesleyan into their next weekend series: two games against No. 7 Hamilton. On Friday, Jan. 26, the Cardinals and the Continentals tied 2–2 in a come-from-behind rallying effort by the Red and Black, featuring goals from forward Caroline Kee ’26 and Christina Tournas.

Looking to shake off the frustrating results, the Cards came into Saturday’s game ready to step it up.

“We knew we didn’t play a full sixty minutes on that Friday game,” Green said. “[We were] sort of happy we got the tie, but not happy about the way that we played. And so our goal going into Saturday was just: play a full game.”

Following a scoreless regulation, the game went into overtime. Only 38 seconds into the extra period, Wesleyan defender Mairead Kennedy ’24 scored the game-winning goal and with this victory, Wesleyan rose to third place in the NESCAC standings. 

Among the standout performers from the game was Halloran, who secured her first shutout of the season with 29 saves. Halloran was named NESCAC Co-Player of the Week for this effort, as well as for her season-high 38 saves in the Friday night game against the Mammoths. It was her first time receiving the honor.

“I don’t really like to over-praise myself,” Halloran said. “But it was a good weekend.”

As the Cardinals prepare for a home weekend series against No. 6 Middlebury, they’re determined to keep their momentum going—both this weekend and throughout the rest of the season. But Green said she and her teammates are trying not to get ahead of themselves.

“Let’s have a good practice,” she said. “Then let’s have a good pregame practice. And then we’ll focus on that game. [We’re] not worrying too much about the future.”

Still, the past few weekends have shown the Cardinals that they can compete with the best teams in the country. That’s a source of encouragement for a team that has spent more than a few years near the bottom of the NESCAC rankings.

“We proved to ourselves that we can play in this league, and be competitive in this league,” Halloran said. “We always think of ourselves as the underdog, which we may be. But we are also a really good hockey team.”

 

Audrey Nelson can be reached at aanelson@wesleyan.edu. 

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