On Saturday, Oct. 11, Wesleyan women’s soccer lost a 0–1 nail-biter to no. 9 ranked Williams. After a ferocious start to the season, the loss was a blow to the Cards during a difficult stretch of important conference games.
“Williams was a wake up call,” captain Molly Brumbach ’26 said. “Any loss, especially a loss where you think you can do better, gives you an opportunity to really learn about yourself and why you’re not able to maybe perform as well in certain games.”
In their final non-conference game of the regular season against Rhode Island College on Tuesday, Oct. 14, the Cards looked to get some momentum. And after only 10 minutes of scoreless soccer, they defined their sense of momentum. Maria Utz ’27 dished a cross to captain Riley Buehler ’26 at the top of the box, and Buehler put it in to get the scoring started. Two minutes later, Utz got on the board herself with a beautiful left-footed goal. Then, only three minutes later, Utz was setting up her teammates once again, giving Stefanie Stoj ’26 a great look from the goal line to net another. In a ridiculous five-minute stretch, the Cards went up 3–0. While the Anchormen were able to get one back, Utz put her last mark on the game with 22 seconds to go, netting her second goal for a 4–1 final score.
The offensive outburst freed up the Red and Black to try different rotations and gain confidence.
“That definitely is a confidence-boosting game,” captain Tori Rideau-Winds ’26 said. “And I think games like that are really important in terms of allowing everybody on the team to play, and giving confidence to the people who don’t always see the field. Making sure [that] as a whole, we are able to stay at a high level and know that we are all contributing.”
While the resounding win boosted confidence around the team, the Cards still sat at 2–2–3 in-conference, and would need to make the most of their three remaining NESCAC games to secure a spot in the playoffs.
On Saturday, Oct. 18, Bowdoin came to town to try and spoil the party. The Red and Black put up a solid attack in the first half, outshooting the Polar Bears 12–6, but the game remained scoreless. The Cards got even more chances in the second half, but were not able to convert on them. The Polar Bears, on the other hand, were able to, scoring in the 49th and 85th minutes to hand the Cards a 0–2 loss.
While it was a tough loss to take, the Cards knew that at this stage in the season, they just had to keep moving and trust the work they had already done.
“They had two lucky chances that they were able to put in, but that was kind of a difficult one,” Utz said. “We knew we really needed those NESCAC wins in order to make the NESCAC Tournament. So that was unfortunate, but going into that week of practice, we just wanted to keep the intensity high, look forward, and not focus on the past.”
On Saturday, Oct. 25, the Cards took the six-hour bus ride to Waterville, Maine, to face Colby. From the Red and Black, there was no love lost for the team that ousted them in last year’s NESCAC Semifinal, their only conference loss of 2024.
This game was the mirror opposite of their battle with the Polar Bears. The Cards’ offense did not get nearly as many chances as Colby, but when they had an opportunity, they made the most of it. In the 23rd minute, Wes was awarded a free kick. Sheridan Snow ’28 did not hesitate and put the ball past the Mules’ goalkeeper to give the Cards a 1–0 lead. From then on, the Mules pushed with everything they had, putting up 14 shots in the first half and 20 in the second—including a stretch of 10 shots in 11 minutes—but the Wes defense turned away all 34 attempts. Brumbach turned in her seventh clean sheet of the season with eight saves. For anchoring the Cards’ defensive masterclass, Brumbach was awarded the NESCAC Player of the Week, her third career honor.
“In soccer, the tightest games are the most focused games,” Rideau-Winds said. “Everybody is giving their all to come out with a win. And I feel that trusting your teammates, with margins so tight, that they are going to do their job, is the whole point of playing a team sport. You build that throughout the season and in preseason, and in moments like that, it shows.”
For their final regular-season game, the Cards hosted Conn. College for a midweek battle on Tuesday, Oct. 28. Although the Camels came in at a dismal 1–8–0 in conference, they had been a consistent thorn in the side of the Cards for years. Apart from a double-overtime thriller, which the Cards won in the NESCAC Quarterfinal last year, you have to go back to 2015 for a Wesleyan victory over Conn., with three losses and five draws during the intervening nine years. The Cards wanted to do away with any notion of a curse, and Buehler had what it took to do just that. She scored in the 17th minute to set the tone and then again in the 57th to put the Cards up 2–0. 15 minutes later, Meredith Feiner ’28 put the Cards up by three, and with the defense holding off a mild Camel attack, the Cards secured the win. This win brought them to 4–3–3 in NESCAC games for the year, good for the no. 8 seed.
“That was a really fun game,” Brumbach said. “Conn. didn’t have that good of a year, but we haven’t won [against] Conn. in my four years here. They’ve always been a really physical team. We kind of did ride over them, but to remind ourselves that we do have a really good base of soccer and a really good foundation. That can fade away in games like Williams and Bowdoin, when you’re focusing on the loss itself. So I think Conn. was a nice reminder that we’re a really solid group.”
The Red and Black traveled to Medford, Mass., to face Tufts in their NESCAC Quarterfinal match. Their regular-season match ended in a scoreless draw, but, in this one, that was not to be the case. The Jumbos got on the board early and continued to press well, with the Cards only getting off three shots in the first 30 minutes of play. However, they continued to push, and in the 37th minute, Utz tied the game with her 10th goal of the season. The game went to halftime tied, but in the 63rd minute, the Jumbos were able to net what would be the game-winner, sending the Cards packing. This was not the result the Cards hoped for, but they had confidence it would not be the end of their year.
“[Head coach] Eva [Meredith] and [assistant coach] Emily [Ribatt] did a really good job of being like, ‘We are practicing like we are already in the tournament,’” Utz said.
On Monday, Nov. 10, during the NCAA Tournament selection show, the Cards heard their name called, receiving an at-large bid. They could not celebrate for too long, as they prepared to take on the No. 21 ranked New York University Violets in their first-round match.
The first half of the Nov. 15 game was a defensive battle with both teams attacking tentatively and turning away all chances. But, in the second half, the Violets drew first blood, scoring three minutes after the break. The Cards gathered themselves and started to press more. In the 63rd minute, they turned up the intensity, putting up four shots, each turned away, before Buehler tied the game in the 68th minute. From then on, the defenses held strong through regular time and 20 minutes of overtime, sending the match to penalty kicks. With a missed chance from each team through the first nine kicks, NYU had a chance to extend the match with a goal. The kick screamed towards the top of the goal and bounced off the crossbar for a Cardinals win. The Red and Black stormed the field, celebrating the win and extending the season.
“PKs [are] an opportunity for me to contribute to the win,” Brumbach said. “I’ve been able to train them a lot in my four years here. It’s such an emotional part of the sport in tournament play. It’s so special to have that moment with your team where everything’s riding on this one moment, and you’re able to celebrate. That is something that you can’t put into words for how good that feeling feels.”
The next day, the Cardinals took on the No. 3 ranked Jumbos, looking to get into the third round. While the Cards fought against the Jumbos’ offensive push, it was not enough as Tufts scored a goal in each half, ending the Wesleyan season with a 0–2 loss.
“It always comes to an end unless you win the national championship,” Brumbach said. “So I think looking back on the career that we had, and the opportunity that we had to play for four years together, we’re all like a group of best friends. And I think reflecting on the bus home, the competition was like kind of a bonus, but the friends that we made along these four years was really what mattered.”
For their outstanding play, Brumbach and Utz were named to the All-NESCAC First Team, while Rideau-Winds, Snow, and Buehler were named to the Second Team. In 26 years of All-NESCAC awards, this is only the second time five Cards have made the list (six were named in 2024).
On top of this, 2025 is the fifth time in program history—as well as the fifth consecutive year—that the Cards have made the NCAA Tournament. The 2020s have been a remarkable period of growth for the program, as it solidifies itself as a national contender at the highest level and one of the top destinations in all of Division III for young players to bring their talent.
“Our class, specifically, has been really happy about the legacy that we’ve left behind on this program, and how we’ve been able to be a part of so many significant moments,” Rideau-Winds said. “It’s made us very prideful about being part of the Wesleyan women’s soccer team. When you’re in this athletic world, it’s nice to also share those moments with your friends, who are also kind of changing their programs and seeing their programs grow. So it’s been a really cool collective experience for the athletic community within the past four or five years.”
The bar of what success means for a Wesleyan team is rising by the semester, but women’s soccer has the talent, determination, and culture to meet and raise those expectations even further.
It’s a great time to be a Cardinal.
Ethan Lee can be reached at ejlee@wesleyan.edu.
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