Women’s Ice Hockey Slips at Trinity

On Tuesday night, the women’s ice hockey squad suffered another tough loss against one of the top teams in the NESCAC, the Trinity Bantams. Now left with a 0-7 record, the team morale may be low, but its confidence has not disappeared yet.

Due to a bus break-down on the road to the Trinity rink, the Cards had a late start to the game and were not given time for a sufficient warm up. Put at this serious disadvantage, Wesleyan was caught off guard in the first period by Trinity’s high intensity and quick speed. The Bantams scored their first goal 2:46 in and then added a second less than 30 seconds later. Before the end of the period, the Bantams scored two more goals, giving themselves a 4-0 lead.

“We gave up four quick and unanswered goals in the first period,” said Jamie Bonner ’12. “We weren’t strong on the puck and I think some of us were a little nervous or intimidated because Trinity is good and we were down a full line.”

The rest time between the two periods refueled the Cards, and they hopped back on the ice in the second period looking like a new team. The Cards stepped up their game and prevented the Bantams from scoring for the whole 20 minutes. Even with a two-minute penalty in middle of the period, the Cards played a great period defensively and managed to keep the Bantams away from their net for the entire period.

Wesleyan worked hard in the third period, only letting in one goal within the first 12 minutes, but towards the end of the period, some of the team’s energy slipped away as Trinity scored two more goals with seven minutes left in the game.

“The third period came along and after working hard for the first half, Trinity scored three more goals and ended up beating us 7-0,” said Bonner. “Most of our lines got stuck playing in our defensive zone for two or more minutes at a time and as a result we got beat in the third.”

Although Wesleyan goalie Ashleigh Corvi ’13 made an impressive 46 saves, Trinity outshot Wesleyan 53-20 en route to its sixth straight win over the Cardinals.

“After that wake up call [in the first period], we played a great second period and kept the score at 4-0,” said Becca Koppel ’13. “We then kept up that intensity in the third period, but they were able to get three more goals. I think next time we play them the score will be much closer if we come out focused from the very start.”

“All we need to do is play a full 60-minute game and not give up and I know we’ll do much better then we have been doing,” added Bonner. “Each game we have at least one period where the other team bombards us with shots, goals, out hustling, but then we are able to get ourselves back in check and we come out strong. Hopefully starting this weekend, or at least after our Christmas Break, we can make a complete turnaround and play like I know we have the potential to do.”

Wesleyan will conclude the semester by hosting Neumann College for a non-conference matchup on Saturday.