BRISTOL, RI. – Field hockey survives, scoring an overtime game-winner to get past Roger Williams, 3-2. On a rainy Wednesday night, the Wesleyan Cardinals traveled to Rhode Island to compete in a non-conference battle that came down to the wire. Wesleyan got out to a strong first 45 minutes, leading in both shots and corners, on way to a 2-0 advantage heading into the 4^th. The Hawks found life in the fourth quarter, controlling the game for the next 15 minutes of action to tie the game up with just seconds left on the clock. Wesleyan regained their footing in overtime, with Helen Deretchin '25 putting through the game-winner eight minutes into extra period to send the Cardinals home with a win. Wesleyan improves to 3-5 on the year, while Roger Williams drops to 7-4.

Wesleyan and Roger Williams went at it for just the eighth time in the program's histories on a rainy Wednesday night in Rhode Island. The two teams began a yearly matchup back in 2014 and have played each other every competitive season since (no game in 2020, COVID-19 pandemic). The Cardinals have dominated their matchup against the Hawks, taking all eight games so far in this series including Wednesday night. The Cardinals have outscored the Hawks 20-6 over those eight games.

The Cardinals and Hawks played the most competitive game of their eight-year series Wednesday under the lights in the pouring rain. Both teams were feeling each other out in the first quarter, with neither team producing more than two shots and few real scoring opportunities. Wesleyan had two shots in the period, which were both off corners, turned away by Hawks goalie Jill Haudenshield. The Hawks offense was quiet until the final four minutes of the quarter where they managed two shots and a penalty corner, but could not put through a goal.

In the second quarter the action picked up for the Wesleyan offense. They controlled the next 15 minutes, holding the Hawks without a shot while they continuously kept pressure on Roger Williams. The Cardinals opened up the quarter with a penalty stroke opportunity, however Diana Schwarz '23 was denied by Haudenshield to keep the game scoreless. The Cards kept up the offensive pressure creating multiple corners, with the fourth opportunity of the quarter creating the first goal of the game. Deretchin took the pass off the penalty corner and ripped a shot that was redirected by Diana Schwarz to Georgia Adams '26 at the far near to give Wesleyan the lead.

After weathering a few early third quarter scoring chances by the Hawks, the Cardinals added another heading into the final period of play. The goal was off a penalty corner once again. Wesleyan worked the ball around to Deretchin who made one more pass to Melanie Lim '24 who took a shot that found the back of the cage to give Wesleyan a 2-0 lead.

Pushing for a comeback, the Hawks completely controlled the 4^th quarter, holding Wesleyan without a shot while they were able to produce 10 of their own. They capitalized on their scoring opportunities to tie the game at two and force overtime. The equalizer was scored in the final 30 seconds of the 4^th, with Roger Williams' Elizabeth Duquette beating Athena Vadnal '25 to her right on a shot from just inside the circle. Wesleyan would regroup in overtime to put through the game-winner. With just over a minute left in the extra session, Deretchin was in the mix again, scoring the decider on a backhanded attempt on-goal from distance off a feed from Kenzie Kelly '25 to send the Cardinals home with a win. 

Vadnal made eight saves to lead the Cardinals as she entered at the start of the second half for the starter in goal Audrey Pace '26 who made four total saves while earning the win as she reentered at the start of overtime. Haudenshield made eight saves for the Hawks. Deretchin had a career-high three points, firing in the game-winning goal to go along with one assist on the night, matching her career-high three points which she also achieved last season in a win over Roger Williams. Adams is now tied for the team-lead with 10 points, as she added a goal today.

Wesleyan looks to keep it rolling this week with two more games over the weekend. The first of which will be a NESCAC contest against the No. 7 Amherst Mammoths on Saturday October 8^th.