Box Score
AMHERST, MA. – Wesleyan women's soccer downed by host Amherst 2-0 in Sunday's NESCAC Championship game. The sixth-seeded Cardinals played the first-seeded Mammoths to a scoreless tie at the half before Amherst was able to net a pair of goals in the 2^nd half to secure the NESCAC Tournament Championship. Amherst wins their 6^th NESCAC Championship, ending their NESCAC Tournament run with a 16-2 record. Wesleyan has their season end in the NESCAC Tournament final with a record of 8-5-5 on the year.

The Cardinals and Mammoths matched up in the NESCAC Tournament for the 4^th time in their histories. Amherst had taken the first three matchups, all as the higher seed. Wesleyan went into this one as the lower seeded team once again, losing to the Mammoths 2-0 in the two teams' first meeting ever in the NESCAC Championship game. Amherst is now 4-0 against the Cardinals in the NESCAC Tournament, 39-8-3 overall.

The defenses came to play throughout the first 45 minutes of action, holding the two offenses to a combined three shots on goal which all came in the final 12 minutes of the half. On Wesleyan's side it was a team effort led by Cheyanne Ollie '23 who turned away numerous scoring chances for the Mammoths through the first half. Despite Wesleyan seeming to control the ball throughout the majority of the half, the Mammoths limited them to one shot on goal.

Amherst started to apply offensive pressure to end the first half, producing their only two shots on goal to go with a handful of scoring chances in the box. Their best chance might have come in the 33^rd minute, with Fiona Bernet sending a ball into the box that bounced in front of the goal before eventually getting knocked away. The Mammoths would immediately put it back into the box where Sarah Hammond '22 just beat Alexa Suarez to the ball to put it out of harm's way.

Wesleyan came out of the break with two early-half scoring chances both coming in the 40^th minute. Dani Milovanov '23 took a free kick from near mid field that floated perfectly into the box where a racing Grace Devanny '23 just missed getting her foot on it. Then seconds later the Cardinals intercepted a pass, creating another scoring chance. Katie O'Connell '25 dribbled down the right side eventually floating a cross to Devanny who had her header go wide.

After those Cardinals' scoring chances it was the Mammoths turn to go on the attack. Amherst reeled off back-to-back goals in the 55^th and 58^th minutes to take a controlling 2-0 lead. The first goal came on a low cross by Sophia Haynes from the right side that was timed perfectly with Ally Deegan's run to the front of the net. Deegan got her foot on it beating Hammond from point-blank range. The second goal came just three minutes later on a similar cross. This time it was Liza Katz who took her time on the right side sending a looping cross in that found the head of Abby Schwartz in front of the net.

The Cardinals couldn't get anything going on the offensive end the rest of the way, unable to record a shot over the final 33 minutes of the championship game. Their best chance in that span might have come minutes after Amherst's two goals when O'Connell beat two Amherst defenders before sending in a low cross that was corralled by Mika Fisher.

Wesleyan finishes the year making the NESCAC Tournament Championship for the 2^nd time in their history. Devanny led the team in goals (7), assists (4) and points (18). While Ollie led the team in total minutes with 1,624, starting all 18 games. Hammond led the Cardinals in every goalkeeper statistic, finishing the year with 10 saves in three games in the NESCAC Tournament.