Coming off an 11-5 season a year ago, the women’s field hockey team had high hopes entering its season opener against Williams. But the Cards couldn’t channel last season’s magic in the 2006 opener as they fell to the Ephs 4-0 last Saturday in Williamstown.
Wesleyan fell behind early and was never able to recover. The Cards allowed the first goal just six minutes into the match and surrendered a second tally seven minutes later. It didn’t get any better for the Cardinals in the second half as Williams added another two scores to kill the game.
Wesleyan struggled primarily because it played a new system that included five attackers but only two defenders. According to team veterans, though, the system itself is not flawed. Instead, it will likely just require more practice for the Cardinals to execute the new alignment effectively.
“We tried out a system that was not quite ready,” said Sarah Rosenfeld ’07. “But our coaches were able to see the problems and the strengths of our system and we have already begun to refine it by going over each person’s role on the field.”
The new formation is designed to take advantage of the significant returning talent on offense. Every player that scored a goal for Wesleyan last year is back on a team that should be dangerous on attack in the coming weeks. Against Williams, though, the offense sputtered in part because the midfield had trouble bridging the gap between the massive Cardinal offensive line and the miniscule Wesleyan defense.
“Playing with two defenders and five attackers, the midfield got lost between the short defense and the huge attack which made our transition not work too well,” said Molly Adams ’07, who led the team in goals last year with 10. “We need to work on our transition and get used to the system.”
Wesleyan is confident that a complete understanding of the system will come in time and, when it does, the Cardinals will be a force to be reckoned with.
“I don’t think we’re comfortable enough with the system to execute it properly, but when we learn it better it should be pretty unstoppable – a relentless attack,” Adams said.
Though the Cards failed to score in the opener, they did generate some offense. The Cardinals took 18 shots, 12 of which were on goal. In order for the squad to have any success in the future, though, the Wesleyan attack will need to rediscover its finishing touch.
“We had trouble finishing,” Adams said. “We need to put the ball in the cage.”
With any luck, some home cooking will cure the team of its shooting woes. The Cards open their home schedule on Thursday against Babson College on the new turf field located beyond the practice fields at the Freeman Athletic Center. Last year, the Cardinals easily disposed of Babson 3-1 on the road.
Despite the depressing result of the Williams game, the team is eager to get back on the field for Thursday’s match-up.
“Come Thursday, we will be a well-oiled machine,” Rosenfeld said.
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