WATERVILLE, Me. – The Wesleyan women's hockey team's record-breaking unbeaten stream to start season has officially ended at six as the Cardinals suffered their first loss of the season in a 2-1 defeat at No. 10 nationally-ranked Colby on Tuesday night. Wesleyan (6-1, 2-1 NESCAC) fell behind 2-0 to the Mules (8-1, 4-1 NESCAC) and despite a third period power play goal, the two-goal deficit was too much to overcome in the final stanza.
Despite having not played a game in 31 days prior to tonight, this youthful Cardinal squad showed very little rust as they gave the Mules all they could handle. Shot totals only favored Colby slightly 32-27 while Wesleyan committed just two penalties and scored on the power play for the fourth time in the last two games.
Colby got the scoring started just over 10 minutes into the first period as Georgia Pettygrove stepped into a wrister from her left defensive position. Cardinal goalie
Rei Halloran '23 got a piece of the initial attempt but the puck trickled over to the opposite post. Picked up by Jillian Mazzocca, she skated around the net and poked to McKinley Karpa in front who put it past a sprawling Halloran who was trying to recover to her right post.
It was 2-0 Mules early in the second period as Colby had the puck for an extended possession in the Cardinal defensive end while on the power play. Colby carried along the left boards before sending a pass to the opposite end. The puck cycled to the point where Anna Staton fired a shot wide and high. With so much pace on the shot, the puck caromed off the end boards and caught the Cardinal defense by surprise, falling to Tate Senden right in front who made no mistake scoring the power play goal.
Instead of succumbing to further damage, Wesleyan sustained heavy offensive pressure for the remaining 15+ minutes of the second period, firing 14 total shots in that span. All that momentum carried over into the third period as Stephanie Lane was whistled for a tripping penalty just over three minutes in.
On the power play, Wesleyan took three shots to no avail and nearly had the full two-minute man-advantage expire before
Jenna Rekoske '24 fired in her second goal of the season and first on the power play.
Mairead Kennedy '24 skated in and around the Mules' net and tried to center for
Effie Tournas '25 in the slot. With several Colby skaters all in front of the net, Tournas was unable to get a shot away so she back-passed to Rekoske who had time to step into a shot which made it's way through heavy traffic and found the back of the net to make it 2-1 with just six seconds remaining on the power play.
Wesleyan had another power play chance midway through the third period and pulled Halloran with 2:30 remaining, setting the stage for a furious last-minute rally attempt. Five shots (three on-goal) all came in the final two minutes but none made it through Nina Prunster as the Colby goalie sealed the door on a 2-1 win for the Mules.
The loss snaps what is Wesleyan's longest unbeaten run to start a season in program history as the Cardinals went 6-0 prior to tonight's defeat. They will look to rebound on the road this weekend as Wesleyan makes the lengthy trip up to Middlebury to face the No. 1 ranked Panthers on Friday and Saturday.
