After a dominating 42-7 win over Bowdoin on Oct. 30, the Cardinals found themselves on the other end of a large scoring gap, losing to Little Three rival Williams this past weekend 45-7. The Cardinals were outmatched against the undefeated Ephmen, who improved their record to 7-0 on the season. They are the only team in the NESCAC with an undefeated record.
The beginning of the game saw fairly even play, as the Cardinals held the Ephmen to just one touchdown in the first quarter. Williams would strike first in the second quarter however, taking a 14-0 lead over the Cardinals. Wesleyan responded with its sole touchdown of the day, on an 11-yard run by Quarterback Matt Coyne ’12, a former Williams player. Coyne scored with just over three minutes remaining in the half, and the Cardinals had an opportunity to gain some momentum going into the halftime break despite being down 14-7 if they could hold out for just three more minutes. However, Williams thwarted the Cardinals’ confidence, scoring two touchdowns in less than three minutes. The second touchdown came with only 33 seconds left on a two-yard plunge and Williams took a commanding 28-7 lead into halftime.
To begin the second half, Williams came out of the locker room blazing, scoring three touchdowns in the third quarter, all the while playing solid defense to keep the Cardinals off the board. Shea Dwyer ’10, who has seen tremendous success on the ground the season managed to still run for 113 yards on 32 carries, but failed to score any rushing touchdowns for the first time this season. The Williams defense stymied the Wesleyan offense throughout the game, as the Ephmen held the Cardinals to just 182 yards of total offense. Before facing Williams, the Cardinals were averaging 27 points per game and almost 400 yards a game on offense.
On a positive note, Dwyer’s rushing performance against Williams gives him his sixth 100-yard plus game on the season, and he continues to build the school record for most yards rushed in a season. His current total stands at 1,128 yards with one more game to play. Furthermore, Captain Nicholas Seara ’11 was named to the CoSIDA/ESPN the Magazine District 1 Academic All-America first team. Seara has started every season he has played with the Cardinals, and earned second-team All-NESCAC honors last season.
In the last game of the season, the Cardinals will play Trinity, who has one loss on the season and is currently tied with Amherst for second place. Trinity is one of the most dominant teams in the league, having beaten the undefeated Lord Jeffs from Amherst this past week 28-13. Wesleyan previously lost to Amherst 37-10 during homecoming weekend, but will nonetheless try to take down the Bantams as the underdogs in their last match of the season, this Saturday, Nov. 13 at 12 p.m. on Andrus field.
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