Wesleyan women’s soccer ended the 2003 season on a sour note, dropping its Homecoming weekend match-up to Little Three rival Williams 5-0 and ending its season 2-12 overall (0-9 NESCAC). The Ephs completed the regular season 8-4-2 (6-3 NESCAC), good enough for a berth in the NESCAC tournament.
“I think it’s hard for a team to end on that kind of a note, but in a lot of games we’ve shown a lot of pride and character. Hopefully that will carry over due to the work we’ve done and from Jenny Hipscher,” said Co-Captain Aesha Pallesen ’04.
The Ephs scored once in the first half on a penalty kick by Brittany Esty ’05 at 16:40. But as in many games this season, Wesleyan could not hold its opponents in the second half, and Williams collected four more goals by four different Williams players. Terri Van Horn ’07 was the first to add to her team’s total at 47:30 with an unassisted goal. Shortly thereafter, at 54:00, Alix Oliver ’07 scored, assisted by Lindsay Dwyer ’05. Dwyer was next on the scoreboard at 84:55 off Hannah Stauffer ’04, and the exhausted Cardinals squad allowed the final goal less than three minutes later, an unassisted score by Brittany Branch ’07.
The Cardinals were out-shot by the Ephs 36-1. Jenny Hipscher ’04, Wesleyan Co-Captain goalkeeper, racked up an amazing 25 saves in her last game with the Cardinals, adding to her NESCAC-leading total of 161, 55 more than her closest competitor. Hipscher finishes the season with a saves per game average of 11.50, far ahead of second place Brenna Shields of Trinity, who averaged 7.57.
It has been a tough season for the Cardinals, but it has had bright spots.
“There were small successes. It was great to be a part of the team at Wesleyan University. I think that we’ve taken small steps every year that I’ve been here. Hopefully, the small steps will result in more concrete results,” said Pallesen. “A lot of people have shown a lot of growth in the season.”
“We leave the team in great hands with Corinne Case ’05 and Amanda Binns ’05 coming into their senior year and taking leadership of the team,” added Pallesen. “A lot of our freshman will continue to show strongly on the field and develop leadership skills.”
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