MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – The Wesleyan women's ice hockey team earned the eight-seed in the 2022 NESCAC Tournament and will open postseason play at home against ninth-seeded Conn. College on Friday night. Opening puck drop is set for 7 PM. The winner of this first round matchup will advance to face top-seeded Middlebury in Vermont on Sunday afternoon.
 
Wesleyan (8-12-1, 4-11-1 NESCAC) has qualified for the NESCAC Tournament for the fourth time in the last five seasons while this marks the program's first-ever NESCAC home playoff game. The Cardinals are 6-5 at home in 2021-22 while they're coming off an undefeated final weekend of regular season play, having tied Trinity 1-1 last Friday on the road and beaten the Bantams 2-0 at home last Saturday on Senior Day.
 
This season has been a roller coaster ride for the Cardinals who won six straight games to start the campaign. The 6-0 record to begin 2021-22 is the longest win streak for Wesleyan to start a season in program history. After a disappointing stretch midway through the season, the Cardinals have shown flashes of-late, starting with a 3-2 home win over Little 3 rival Williams back on Feb. 5 and most-recently last weekend against the Bantams.
 
Effie Tournas '25 is the leading scorer on the team with 16 points (eight goals, eight assists) while Audrey McMahon '22 is the lone other Cardinals with double figure point totals as the senior has four goals and eight assists for 12 points. Bridget Cornell '23 has produced from the blue line all season, leading the team with a +5 plus/minus rating while she leads all defenders on the team with eight points (two goals, six assists).
 
Rei Halloran '23 has impressed throughout the 2021-22 season in her first full campaign as the regular starter for the Cardinals. She has started all but one game this season and heads into the playoffs with a 1.90 goals-against average and .930 save percentage to go along with three shutouts on the year. She has tallied 30+ saves seven times while she racked up a career and season-high 47 saves while holding the No. 1 nationally-ranked Middlebury Panthers scoreless until the final minute of overtime back on January 14.
 
Wesleyan opens postseason play at home against Conn. College (8-14-2, 4-12 NESCAC) on Friday. The Camels managed to sweep the Cardinals in the regular season, winning 2-1 in New London and 4-3 in overtime in Middlebury on January 21-22. This is the first-ever postseason meeting between the two teams.