Women’s Hockey Eyes First NESCAC Playoff Victory Ahead of Quarterfinal Matchup Versus Williams

On Saturday, Feb. 28, Wesleyan women’s hockey looks to win a playoff game for the first time in program history.

After a 0–5 start, the Red and Black stared down to what looked like a season of trouble and frustration. However, the second half of the season proved to be one filled with hope, promise, and momentum, eventually propelling them back to the NESCAC tournament after missing the cut last year. 

The first game against the Ephs provided the Cards with their first win of the season. According to senior co-captain Aimée Seppenwolde ’26, the win didn’t change much for the team.

“We had been crawling towards that win for so long,” Seppenwolde said. “We were doing all the right things; it’s just the scoreboard did not reflect effort, energy, and grit.” 

The win proved to be the needed confidence booster for the seven impressive first-years on the team. Three of the team’s four leading points contributors are first-years: Caroline Humber ’29 with 16, Parker Caldara ’29 with 13, and Lilly Place ’29 with 12. 

“Our first win was awesome for me, because it was my first time playing in a high-level overtime game, and to be put at third shooter was super exciting,” Caldara, who co-leads the team in goals, said. “Then the win itself was definitely a confidence boost for the entire team.” 

This win propelled the team into “J-Break,” their name for the nearly three weeks they spend training on campus over Winter Break.

“I like to think of it as summer camp in the winter,” Sam Galanek ’26 said. “Everyone loves morning practice because you’re fresh and ready to go, as opposed to having to practice after a long school day.” 

The time on campus allowed the rather young team to really get to know each other, and it showed. Coming out of the break, the Red Black saw an 8–8 record in 2026 after a 1–7 start to their season. 

The Red and Black saw their first win of 2026 on Saturday, Jan. 3 against Conn. College, racking up a 3–2 victory. Caldara saw a five-point night, tallying two goals and an assist. 

“The second half of our season, we all started trusting each other more,” Caldara said.  “We were coming together rather than as individuals. J-term was a big moment for us; it brought us all so much closer.”  

On Monday, Jan. 5, the Cards took down their non-conference foe Johnson & Wales University with a convincing 3–1 victory. Eve Omura ’29, Dylan Green ’26, and Caldara all tallied a goal. 

“Our freshman class is really good, and that’s been the difference maker,” Green said. “I think having more games under their belt has built their confidence and has been a huge part of why we’ve been more successful this year compared to last.” 

This marked the Cards’ last win for nearly two weeks. The Cards got swept by Williams the following weekend, 1–4 and 2–6 in Williamstown, Mass. Three days later, they met out-of-conference opponent No. 10 Endicott at home but fell to the Gulls 0–3. 

On Saturday, Jan. 17, they got back into the win column with a nail-biting 1–0 shootout win against Hamilton. This game proved to be an important signal for the Cards’ ability to bounce back, after dropping a 4–2 lead in the third the day before against the Continentals. Hamilton scored three goals within the last 1:05 of regulation and within the first minute of sudden-death overtime. 

None of that mattered heading into Saturday when the Cards emerged victorious. The singular goal came off the back of Amelia Molin ’27 as the fourth shooter in the lineup. Tied 0–0 at the end of regulation, the Cards forced a shootout. The first four shooters from Hamilton and the first three from Wes weren’t able to end it for their team, but Molin, sitting on four points over the season, snuck one past the Continental keeper to win it for the Red and Black. 

After dropping a pair of games to No. 2 Amherst (2–6, 0–4), the Cards came home ready to avenge themselves in Spurrier-Synder Rink on Friday, Jan. 30 and Saturday, Jan. 31 against the Conn. College Camels. 

Avenging themselves, they earned a 3–2 overtime win on Jan. 30. The game saw three different goal scores in Carly Ward ’27, Humber, and Seppenwolde, with Green assisting on all three. Green saw the first shot in overtime, but it was blocked by the Camels’ goalie. It then fell right into the stick of Seppenwolde as she swarmed the puck and put it away for the Cards’ win in front of an electric home crowd. The Cards saw another win on the final day of Jan. 31, never trailing and winning 4–1 to send the Camels back to New London with a pair of losses. 

Two weeks later, the Cards headed up to Waterville, Maine, for a Valentine’s Day weekend with the No. 8 Colby College Mules. The Cards were 11–40 all-time against the Mules heading into the weekend. 

The Mules took the first game 2–3. Down 0–2 in the first 14 minutes, the Cards battled back to tie the game 2–2 heading into the third period off goals from Beats Tura ’27 and Caroline Kee ’26. The Camels put the game winner away early in the third, and although the Cards had 10 shots after the Mules third goal, none seemed to find the back of the net as the Mules defense held strong. 

“Friday didn’t go our way; we played well,” Seppendwolde said.  “The score didn’t really reflect. We didn’t do what we needed to do in order to clinch that game; we could have won. Going into the Saturday game, we knew we could take this team. It was their senior day.  I’ll give it to [Head Coach] Jodi [McKenna]. She actually had a really great pregame speech where she was like, there’s gonna be a lot of energy in this room, it doesn’t need to be theirs. We can take that energy. I’m so proud of us; we dominated that game. It wasn’t even a question.”

Galanek spoke to the energy heading into the game. 

“Our season ended with Colby our sophomore year; they knocked us out of the playoffs, and they’ve always been our kryptonite team,” Galanek said. “They’re a very hard team for us to play for whatever reason. Our systems don’t work well against them, and we’ve never beaten them away since 2017, so beating them on their home ice was awesome.”

The Mules got off to an early lead, scoring within the first 30 seconds.

“They scored within the first minute,” Seppenwolde said. “Usually, we’ll back up, back off on our heels, we’ll let them come back. We didn’t do that. We dominated the rest of that game.” 

Dominate, they did. The Cards scored the next four goals to take a 4–1 lead going into the 3rd period. Goalkeeper Jenna Guglielmi ’27 had an incredible performance, stopping 43 shots and igniting confidence in the Cards’ attack. 

The Cards saw dominance across the board. Caldara had two goals, Seppenwolde and Bree Anderson ’29 had two assists each, and Humber and Green had a goal each. 

“We walked away Friday knowing we should have won that game,” Green said. “So Saturday was maybe surprising to everybody else that we won, but not to us: We were confident we could beat this team.” 

This win put the Cards in an opposite position from last year. Last year, as the Red and Black headed into the last weekend, their season was coming to an end against the Bantams. This year, they had the chance to control their own destiny. So long as they tallied one point, meaning they didn’t lose both games in regulation, the Cards were heading to the postseason. 

Heading into the game, Green explained the team’s mentality of striving towards a postseason berth. 

“We’re fighting for another week together,” Green said. “I really want another week with my friends and my team, and we know we can beat them. They’re very chippy, so we definitely need to focus on a good mentality and try not to play into that—which I say while having the most penalties, but still.” 

Though that seemingly simple task showed signs of rockiness after the Cards lost 0–2 to the Bantams on Friday, Feb. 20 in Hartford, Conn., Guglielmi held her ground in net, with a save percentage of 93.1%, stopping 27 of Trinity’s 29 shots. 

As they came back to Middletown for their senior night, they had one last chance to prove the talent of this team. And that’s exactly what they did. 

Senior night started and ended with celebrations. With the five members of the class of 2026 and their parents watching from the stands, they ended their regular season in style.

Never trailing, the Cards won 3–1 against the Bantams in front of an electric home crowd on Saturday, Feb. 21. Place assisted on all three goals, which were scored by Green, Tura, and Seppenwolde. 

The Cards enter the NESCAC tournament as the #6 seed, preparing for a trip to Williamstown, Mass., to face Little Three foe, the Williams Ephs. This is the Cards’ fourth meeting with the Ephs this season, with the current season tally being 1–2 in favor of the Ephs. The Ephs have the Cards at a record of 39–54, but in the postseason, anything is possible, and the new season begins 0–0. 

Leila Feldman can be reached at lfeldman01@wesleyan.edu.

Payton Radosti can be reached at pradosti@wesleyan.edu.