Although the women’s ice hockey team suffered a couple of recent losses against some of its top NESCAC rivals during the winter break, the Cardinals managed to keep a positive attitude and come away with some constructive ideas on how to improve as they go into the second half of their season.
“Throughout winter break we became much stronger as a team and more consistent with our playing,” said forward Leah Coe ’11. “We changed our style of play in the defensive zone and that has been greatly beneficial to our success. We have become much better at playing all three periods hard as a team and not letting up.”
This past weekend, the team was back in action, competing against two of its biggest NESCAC rivals. The squad took on the Colby Mules on Friday night, taking home a 2-1 victory and then fought hard against the Bowdoin Polar Bears on Saturday afternoon, but was unable to come away with a second win.
Determined to start the second half of the year on a positive note, the Cards spread their wings and came out flying on Friday night at Spurrier-Snyder Rink. Wesleyan got to work early on in the game as Julia Heffelfinger ’11 scored a power-play goal just three minutes after the puck dropped. Less than 30 seconds later, forward Jill Reynolds ’12 netted another power-play goal, giving the Cards a 2-0 lead.
With the help of Ashleigh Corvi ’13 between the pipes, the Cards were able to hold off the Mules until the final period of the game, in which Colby scored its first goal with just under six minutes remaining. Although Colby pulled its goalie for the final 30 seconds hoping to gain a tie, Wesleyan held out strong and did not allow the Mules to capitalize on their man-up advantage. This 2-1 victory was the Cards’ initial conference triumph of the season.
The players made it clear that after a string of losses during the winter break, this win over Colby was important in boosting both the team’s record and morale.
“It was a great win for us last night,” said Coe. “Exactly the motivation and momentum we need going into Saturday’s game against Bowdoin.”
On Saturday afternoon, the Cards sustained the momentum early in the first period against the Polar Bears.
“We had a lot of confidence coming into the game after a huge win against Colby the night before,” said Corvi. “This was definitely evident in our play during the first five minutes of the first period. I don’t think Bowdoin expected us to come out with the urgency and intensity we showed early on in the game.”
But as the game continued, the Cards slowed down their level of play and lost some of that original energy. After a couple fundamental mistakes, the Cards broke down and gave up some easy goals. Dominating the game both offensively and defensively, the Polar Bears ultimately outshot the Cards 59-13 and took home a 7-0 victory. Corvi held strong in the net and made an impressive 52 saves for the Cards, but that was still not enough to advance Wesleyan’s play in the offensive zone. Although both effort and desire were there, the Cards were unable to pick up a second victory and finished the weekend 1-1.
“Everyone walked away from the game realizing that we all needed to sit down and reflect on our individual play and look towards the future,” Corvi said. “But if everyone puts forth their whole effort this week and goes into this weekend’s game against Williams with a positive mindset, we could return to Wes with a second league win.”
Although the Cards were not satisfied with their performance against the Bears, the team remains optimistic and is looking forward to competing against its Little Three rival. The puck is set to drop at 7 p.m.
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