On the road this past weekend, the Wesleyan field hockey team split its games 1-1, beginning with a 10-2 landslide victory over Eastern Connecticut State on Thursday and concluding with a 2-1 close loss to NESCAC rival Bowdoin on Saturday. The 10-2 win at ECSU tied the Wesleyan record for most goals scored in a single game set in 1997 against Franklin Pierce.
In Thursday’s game, the Cardinals outshot ECSU 29 to 5. Liz Chabot ’12 notched the first goal of the game 8:30 into the half off of an assist from Morgan McCauley ’12. McCauley came back three minutes later with her own goal off of a penalty corner hit by Jamie Thabault ’11. Taryn Murray ’13 and Thabault also contributed two unassisted goals in the first half—Thabault’s was her first goal of the season. In the interim, ECSU was able to snag two goals. However, after scoring her own goal, Thabault assisted in McCauley’s second goal of the game to give Wes a comfortable 5-2 lead at halftime.
In the second half, ECSU was unable to catch up to the Cards, as Wes defense held strong, denying any scoring opportunities. Wes offense doubled the score with goals from Blair Ingraham ’14, Alex Bean ’11, Amy Blum ’14 and two more goals from McCauley. By the end of the game, McCauley had tallied four goals and one assist, matching the individual record for most goals scored (four) and most points earned (nine) in a single game. Thabault finished the game with one goal and a notable three assists.
On Saturday, the Cardinals failed to bring their offensive fervor from the ECSU game with them to Maine, as NESCAC leader Bowdoin outshot them 23 to 3. The first half was scoreless on both sides, but Bowdoin came into the second half fired up and scored two quick goals within the first few minutes. At 45:12 Wes got on the scoreboard with a goal from Ingraham off of a centering pass from Chabot, bringing the score to 2-1. Wes failed to rally any further, giving Bowdoin the 2-1 victory. Keeper Tori Redding ’13 finished with an impressive season-high of 15 saves for Wesleyan.
After this week’s games, Wesleyan’s record stands at 7-2 overall and a 3-2 NESCAC count. The Cards are tied with Middlebury at fourth in the conference and remain number 16 on the official NCAA rankings. Wesleyan heads back up to Maine this weekend for another NESCAC contest against the Bates Bobcats.
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