NEW LONDON, Conn. – Understanding the stakes of Tuesday night's game, the No. 10 ranked Wesleyan field hockey team put in one of their best performances of the year to defeat Connecticut College 5-1 and earn a home game in the NESCAC Tournament Quarterfinal round on Saturday. Wesleyan (11-4, 6-4) completes its best regular season in 20 years while the Camels (6-9, 3-7) earned a spot in the NESCAC Tournament for the first time since 2012.
 
Needing a win over Conn. to seal the #4 seed and the first home playoff game since 2005, the Cardinals cameo out and dominated, putting up a 14-0 shot disparity in the first half which finished at 27-7 in favor of Wesleyan at the end of the game. Penalty corners heavily favored Wesleyan (13-3) as Conn. didn't register their first corner until early in the third quarter.
 
All the early pressure paid dividends as Helen Deretchin '25 saw her shot attempt from in close off a penalty corner opportunity hit the foot of a Camel player and drew a whistle from the umpire. With a penalty stroke awarded, Kenzie Kelly '25 stepped to the circle and her shot snuck inside the right post to make it 1-0 Cardinals after just over nine minutes of play.
 
Another penalty corner goal for Wesleyan came late in the first as Imani Ochieng '25 inserted on the far side to Sydney Cameron '26 on the right wing. With time to shoot, Cameron lined up a powerful shot that avoided heavy traffic in front and landed in the back of the cage to make it 2-0 Wesleyan with 24 seconds left in the quarter. That goal was Cameron's first on the season.
 
The Cardinals did not let up in the second quarter, outshooting Conn. 8-0 in the frame while generating five penalty corner opportunities. On what was the third corner of the quarter, Ochieng had an initial shot attempt saved by Conn. goalkeeper Liz Winemaster, but the rebound kicked out to the penalty corner inserter Ava Galdenzi '24, G'25 who slipped a pass to Kelly right in front for the tap-in goal that made it 3-0 Cardinals.
 
After a goal-less third quarter, Athena Vadnal '25 relieved starting goalkeeper Audrey Pace '26 in net and made two saves in a 26-second span to keep the margin at 3-0. Wesleyan then put the game to bed two minutes later as the Cardinals struck for another penalty corner goal, this time off the stick of Kenzie Mauro '27 as her fourth of the season made it 4-0.
 
Vadnal made another save before the Camels broke the shutout bid with Margaret Sadak scoring with 5:23 left.
 
The Cardinals restored their four-goal lead just over three minutes later with yet another penalty corner goal to complete the scoring. Cameron received the insert and had an initial shot attempt blocked, but she corralled the loose ball and passed off to Leila Feldman '28 who blasted home her third goal of the year to make it 5-1 Wesleyan.
 
Kelly's first career multi-goal game increases her season total to seven goals through 15 games. Kelly's previous single-season career-high for goals coming into 2024 was two.
 
Cameron scoring moves the Cardinals' total to 13 different goal scorers this season. Georgia Adams '26 registered an assist on the Mauro goal to push her team-leading total to six while she has 30 points on the year.
 
The 11-win regular season is tied for the most in the history of the program, with the only other 11-win campaign coming back in 2004. The Cardinals' six NESCAC wins in 2024 is tied for the highest single-season total. Tonight's win also signaled the first Cardinal win over Conn. since 2021 and the first road win over the Camels since 2017.
 
The team's focus shifts to postseason play as Wesleyan plays host to a NESCAC Tournament game for just the third time in team history. The four-seed Wesleyan will host five-seed Bates on Saturday at 1:00 PM from Hicks Field. The regular season meeting in Middletown saw the Cardinals defeat the Bobcats 5-1 which represented Wesleyan's first win over Bates since 2014.