During Wesleyan women’s soccer’s historic 2021 season, the Cards recorded a streak of 14 unbeaten games and an NCAA tournament semifinals appearance. 2025’s Red and Black seniors, then first-years, have been chasing that feeling ever since. 

This year, the team opened with a blazing hot start. By the time the Cards headed into their last two matchups at the end of October, they were 11–0–2 overall, looking to put the finishing touches on a record-breaking undefeated regular season. 

First on the docket was Colby, in a Senior Day showdown on Saturday, Oct. 26. After a scoreless first half—featuring show-stopping defense by goalkeeper Molly Brumbach ’26 and Wesleyan’s back line—the Mules advanced on the Red and Black, with Colby’s Claire Walsh firing off a shot on goal. Brumbach completed a diving save to keep the game tied at 0–0. 

In the 79th minute of the game, Waverly Meyers ’26 positioned herself to take advantage of a deflected free kick from Katie O’Connell ’25. Meyers sank the second-chance shot, ultimately guiding the Cards to a 1–0 victory. With the win, the Red and Black clinched the top seed in the NESCAC for the first time in program history.  

Sheridan Snow ’28 said that even as a first-year player, she was fully aware of the significance of clinching the top seed.

“It meant so much to me because I knew that none of our seniors had ever done it before,” Snow said. “All of us were like, ‘We need to keep playing for our seniors. We’ve already broken a record, but we want to do more.’”

The Cards had one more opponent before they could prepare for the NESCAC tournament. On Tuesday, Oct. 29, they traveled to New London to face off against Conn. College. The matchup once again showcased the strength of Wesleyan’s back line; the Red and Black allowed only one shot on goal throughout the game. At the half, the Cardinals had outshot the Camels 9–0 and were up 1–0 thanks to an eighth-minute goal from Meredith Feiner ’28.

The Red and Black continued to outshoot the Camels in the second half, until Conn. College’s Mae Mastrullo squeezed in a shot past Brumbach’s outstretched fingertips. The game ended with the two teams tied 1–1, cementing the Cards’ season at 12–0–3 overall, 7–0–3 NESCAC. 

The outcome was enough to secure a jump in the rankings for the Cards—they finished the season ranked no. 4 nationally, their highest ranking since the beginning of the 2022 season—and to beat their previous record of 14 undefeated games (set in 2021). Still, Brumbach noted that it was difficult to end the regular season on a tie rather than an outright win.

“In all honesty, we wanted to do a lot more with that game,” Brumbach said. “We all, as individuals, hold ourselves to really high standards…. We are kind of hard on ourselves, which is, I think, a good thing for the future of the program.”

With the regular season behind them, the Red and Black turned toward preparing for the NESCAC tournament. Their first opponent was a familiar one. They rematched with no. 8 seed Conn. College at home for the NESCAC quarterfinals, just four days after tying the Camels in New London. This time, the Cardinals prevailed 1–0, but not before fighting down to the wire in double overtime. 

While the Red and Black once again dramatically outshot the Camels on goal, the game remained scoreless through all 90 minutes of regulation and an additional overtime period. Juliette Sullivan ’27 finally notched the Cards’ winning goal off of an assist from Kerenza Leahey ’27 in the 106th minute of the game.

The following day, the Cardinals matched up against sixth-seed Colby for the NESCAC semifinals. Despite outshooting the Mules 15–10 overall, the Red and Black struggled to keep up, falling behind 2–0 by the middle of the second half. A goal from Feiner and a penalty kick go-ahead from Riley Buehler ’26 lent Wesleyan some momentum, but the Mules shut down any chance of a comeback, dashing the Cardinals’ hopes of a NESCAC championship with a 3–2 upset.

O’Connell said the first loss of the season was a hard pill for the Cards to swallow.

“That one definitely stung a little,” O’Connell said. “I really felt like it was our year to win a NESCAC championship. But that was our first loss of the season, and I think that instead of bringing morale down, it kind of boosted us to try our best to avoid a loss again in NCAAs.”

The Cardinals learned the following day that they had received an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III tournament for only the fourth time in school history. Less than a week later, still ranked no. 4 in the nation, the Red and Black took on SUNY Brockport in the opening round of the tournament. The Cardinals crushed the Golden Eagles 4–1, demonstrating their prowess on both ends of the field. Everyone from first-years to seniors participated in the victory; Snow and O’Connell both knocked in shots to seal the Cardinals’ first-round win.

Brumbach said the game lent the Cardinals momentum as they headed into the second round.

“Going into the first game, in the locker room, it was a great time,” Brumbach said. “We reinvigorated this sense of, ‘This is the start of a new season,’ and we came out, got an early-ish goal, and I think that helped us.”

Less than 24 hours later, the Cardinals matched up against no. 14 University of Scranton in the second round of the tournament. It was the first time the two teams had met on the field. Scranton (18–1–2 heading into the game) had only allowed one goal in the past ten games, so the Cards knew they had their work cut out for them. Despite a solid defensive performance from Brumbach and her back line—Caty Clements ’25, Snow, and Zoey Fagnan ’26—the Red and Black fell to the Royals 2–0. The second-round elimination ended the Cardinals’ season and capped their record at 14–2–3 overall (7–0–3 NESCAC).

Brumbach said that for her, the Red and Black’s sadness after the game was a powerful indicator of the team’s cohesion this year.

“There was definitely a lot of disappointment, because you feel like this is such a special group here, and you want to juice it to the fullest extent,” Brumbach said. “But it’s also really meaningful that everyone is so sad about the season ending. I don’t think that happens with all of the sports here or at any school—the fact that we were all very disappointed that we’re not gonna be able to see each other every day.”

O’Connell echoed Brumbach’s assessment.

“This season, we found a lot of success on the field,” O’Connell said. “But we reflected on our off-the field moments, and those are what have been most special to us. It hasn’t been winning and scoring goals. It’s been the quality time we’ve spent together outside of the practice and games.”

Even in their disappointment, there are bright spots for the Cardinals. The team learned just before the NCAA tournament that they had picked up a record six All-NESCAC honors. The Red and Black also cornered three of the four major NESCAC awards: Head Coach Eva Meredith and her assistants Vik Miseljic, Bill Dudzik, and Nina Zwolinski won Coaching Staff of the Year, while Brumbach and Snow cornered Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) and Rookie of the Year (ROTY), respectively.

Brumbach, who was also named to First Team All-NESCAC, finished the season with 10 shutouts on the season and a .869 save percentage. She is the first Cardinal to win DPOY. Snow led the Red and Black in minutes played. Her work on the defensive end of the field helped the Cards hold opponents to only five total goals during the regular season.

Snow said the ROTY award took her by surprise.

“I didn’t expect it,” Snow said. “I had no idea. I’m just grateful that I was put in the position to be able to get that. Because especially as a defender, that’s not really something that’s super easy to get, because we don’t always get as much recognition as the people who are scoring a lot.”

Meanwhile, O’Connell was named to First Team All-NESCAC, alongside defensive powerhouse Tori Rideau-Winds ’26. In addition to receiving All-NESCAC honors, O’Connell finished her senior season as Wesleyan’s 2024 points leader. She posted 38 points across 69 games during her time at Wesleyan.

O’Connell said that last summer, she made a conscious effort to step up her game and lead the team for her senior season.

“Last year, I started to be more of a key starter on the team, and I was lacking in points for being a forward,” O’Connell said. “So going into this, especially being a team captain, I knew it was important to have a standout year.” 

Meyers, Clements, and Maria Utz ’27 also received All-NESCAC honors. All three were named Second Team All-NESCAC. 

The Red and Black will graduate four seniors at the end of this year: O’Connell, Clements, Juliette Vemmer ’25, and Maddy Reynolds ’25. A robust junior class of seven will lead the way for the Cards’ 2025 season. While next year is still a long way off, Brumbach and her teammates are excited to carry this record-breaking season with them as inspiration for what’s to come.

“I feel like we have such a good foundation to bring in a new freshman class and foster them into the already integrated team that we have right now,” Brumbach said. “The [seven] of us [juniors] are so tight-knit and so close. So I think all of us, as a friend group, are so excited to go into our next season, our senior season, and get the most out of it.” 

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

Leila Feldman can be reached at lfeldman@wesleyan.edu.