With four individual goal scorers, the Cardinals took the lead on the third goal of the season by Victoria Matthews '17 in the 13th minute and never trailed in posting a 4-2 victory at Eastern Connecticut Tues., Sept. 22. Wesleyan now leads the overall series vs. Eastern, 6-3-3, and equaled its highest scoring output in the series, last done in 1994.
Matthews received a pass from Madeline Keane '16 from the left side that was lofted over the defense, allowing Matthews to run onto the ball near the top of the box. She trapped the ball, then fired a shot past the ECSU keeper who was coming out to try and cut down the angle.
Isabel Clements '17 made ot a 2-0 lead in the 24th minute, getting control of the ball on the left side and working around the Warriors defense near the top of the box, then putting a low left-footed shot just inside the left goalpost for her first tally of the season.
Though Eastern cut the gap in half by converting a free kick just outside the box on the right in the 52nd minute, Wesleyan pushed the margin back to two goals i the 69th minute when Sarah Sylla '17 put a well-placed corner kick into the pack on front of the left goalpost from the left side, and onto the head of Lauren Goetzman '19 who knocked the ball home for his initial career goal.
Wesleyan made it a 4-1 lead when a ball misplayed by the Eastern defense deep in its own territory gave Liz Young '19 a clean break to the Warrior goal and she converted her fourth goal of the season in the 73rd minute.
Eastern got the last goal in the 76th minute on a hard shot from deep on the left through traffic past Meghan Hanan '18, who played the final 28 minutes. Olivia Gorman '19 handled the net during the opening 62 minutes, also allowing one goal.
Wesleyan was at home Sat., Sept. 26 in NESCAC play against Bates in its next start. Sylla scored her first goal of the season late on the first half, and Hanan made six saves to help the Cardinals play to a 1-1 double-overtime tie.
The Cardinals had a chance to take the lead in the first minute on a point-blank header by Young, but the Bates goalie recovered to make the save and finished the game with 11 saves.
Bates took a 1-0 edge at 14:22 on a goal off a long crossing pass from the left corner. Wesleyan evened the score at 42 minutes on the chip in by Sylla, who was in the right spot when an attempted header by Goetzman deflected to her right foot and she tucked it into the lower right corner of the goal.
Bates outshot the Cardinals 9-6 in the first half, but the Cardinals had three shots on goal to just two for the Bobcats.
The two teams played a scoreless second half. The best Cardinal chance of the period came with 29:48 left on a free kick by Keane from the top of the box. She rocketed a shot at the goalie, who bobbled the save but corralled the rebound.
The Bobcats had a strong chance in the final two minutes when a shot was ticketed for the lower right corner, but Hanan made a sprawling stop.
The Cardinals had the two best chances to score in the first overtime, both off the foot of Matthews. The first one came 1:30 into the OT with a rocket from 20 yards that the keeper managed to knock down. The second came with 5:10 left from about 15 yards and the rebound save got away from the goalie, but the Cards were not able to follow up.
Matthews had one more opportunity in the second overtime on a breakaway with 5:04. Her attempt to tuck the ball past the diving netminder into the right corner hit the post. Bates had a last gasp attempt with a corner kick in the final minute, but the ball into the box was cleared by the Wesleyan defense.
Shots in the game were even, 20-20, but the Cardinals put 12 on cage to just seven by the Bobcats.
Ahead for Wesleyan is a trip to Hamilton for another NESCAC contest Sat., Oct. 3. The game is slated for a webcast.
