Playing a critical home game against NESCAC rival Tufts on Wednesday, the Cardinals gave a stellar effort and prevailed by a score of 2-0.
Both squads entered Wednesday’s contest with a 4-3 record in conference play: the winner would be awarded a coveted home playoff spot for this weekend’s opening round of the NESCAC championship.
Last year, the Cardinals suffered a heartbreaking double overtime loss to Tufts, the first of two games Wesleyan dropped to the Jumbos that season. The second of those defeats, coming just five days later, ousted the Cardinals from the NESCAC tournament and ended their season.
This time around, however, the Wesleyan squad had other plans. After a quiet first half, the second stanza saw the Cardinal offense explode out of the blocks, netting two goals in less than three minutes. The first came from NESCAC Player of the Week Adrienne Shea ’08 off of an assist from Molly Adams ’08. Just moments later Cortney Tetrault ’07 added another, again with an assist from Adams.
Defensively, too, the Cardinals outshone Tufts. Goalkeeper Caitlin Kelly ’07 played her best game of the 2005 campaign, recording 14 saves en route to her third overall and second consecutive shutout of the season.
With Wednesday’s victory Wesleyan improved to 10-3 overall and 5-3 in conference play, having won eight of its last nine contests.
On Saturday, the Cardinals will look to maintain that momentum as they close out the regular season with an away game against the undefeated Bowdoin College, Polar Bears, ranked fourth nationally. The following day the Cardinals will kick off the postseason when they host either Conn. College or Tufts during the first round of the NESCAC tournament.
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