Women’s Hockey Ends Season 1-14-1

This past weekend, the women’s ice hockey team concluded its season with trips to conference rivals Middlebury and Williams, coming away empty-handed against both teams. However, the performance of goalie Rachel Stemerman ’09 again proved to be the silver lining, as Stemerman made 41 saves against Middlebury and 35 against Williams to raise her career total to 3,012, the second highest in Division III history. Stemerman also shattered the Wesleyan seasonal record with 923 saves in 2008-09, but her performance could not prevent Wesleyan from finishing the season with a 2-21-1 overall record.

The Cardinals first took the ice against Middlebury on Friday night. The Panthers dominated the first period, securing their first goal at 15:32. Middlebury struck again with another goal at 19:38 and went into the first intermission with a 2-0 lead. Continuing their run, the Panthers scored two goals early in the second period at 5:08 and 6:01 to make the score 4-0. Wesleyan finally responded at 14:01 with a tally from Sena Ito ’11. Hannah Jackson ’09 and Rebecca Snelling ’12 assisted on Ito’s score.

The Cards looked to Molly Friedemann ’11 for their second goal of the night. Friedemann found the back of the net at 17:55 after a pass from Julia Mulhern ’12 for her first collegiate goal. The Cards entered the dressing room for the final intermission trailing by a 4-2 score, but they were unable to retain their scoring streak and were scoreless in the third period. Middlebury, on the other hand, scored three more times in the third stanza for the 7-2 final.

Even after the loss to Middlebury, the Cards were anxious to meet conference foe Williams in their final game of the season. Looking to avenge a tie with Williams earlier in the season, Wesleyan jumped on the board first at 10:44 in the first period with a power-play marker from Ito, just the Cardinals’ seventh in 109 man-advantage opportunities on the season. It was the second goal of the weekend by Ito, the team’s leading goal scorer with eight. Julia Heffelfinger ’11 and Julia Cohen ’09 assisted on Ito’s marker.

Williams responded to tie the game at 14:58 for a 1-1 score at the first intermission. Williams took advantage of a power play early in the second frame to score just over four minutes in. Wesleyan had four power-play opportunities in the third period but mustered only seven shots and was unable to break onto the board, making the final score 2-1 in the Ephs’ favor.

The Cardinals ended the season with a conference record of 1-14-1, finishing in last place in the NESCAC. Wesleyan failed to qualify for the NESCAC Championship, so the past weekend was the last for the team’s five seniors: Emily Avener ’09, Cohen, Hannah Jackson ’09, Eliza Worthley ’09 and Stemerman. The Cardinals will certainly miss their seniors, and especially their powerhouse goaltender, next season.

With the loss of their quintet of seniors, the Cards will look to Ito and Jill Reynolds ’12, who finished second on the team with four goals, for leadership on the ice in 2009-10. Wesleyan will look to improve on this season’s record and the Cardinals must work hard in the off-season to make this a reality.