WORCESTER, Mass. – The No. 22 ranked Wesleyan field hockey team opened the 2024 campaign with a dominating 5-1 road win at WPI on Wednesday night.
 
The Cardinals came out flying, attempting all four shots in the first quarter and generating a penalty stroke midway through the frame. Kenzie Kelly '25 stepped to the spot and she made no mistake, burying the first goal of the season for Wesleyan and opening a 1-0 lead at 5:32.
 
Wesleyan extended its advantage to 2-0 in the second quarter, eventually breaking down the WPI defense after a steady dose of pressure. The Cardinals capped a span of nearly five minutes of play that featured five shots and a pair of penalty corners with Georgia Adams '26 knocking home a feed from Annabel Cincotta '25 at 24:30.
 
Cincotta then made it 3-0 with an unassisted tally nearly midway through the third quarter before the Engineers cashed in on their first penalty corner of the game to cut the deficit to 3-1 at 38:39.
 
Armed with the two-goal lead entering the fourth, Wesleyan closed out the game with a two-goal stanza with Adams factoring in both. The junior set up a goal for Kenzie Mauro '27 at 49:42 then 56 seconds later she was on the receiving end of an Ava Galdenzi '24 feed at 50:38.
 
In the end, four different Cardinals scored a goal with Adams leading the way with a five-point night (two goals, one assist). This was Adams' fifth career multi-goal game.
 
Audrey Pace '26 was credited for one save for Wesleyan in goal before making way for Athena Vadnal '25 who closed out the remaining 6:02 of play.
 
Wesleyan outshot WPI 20-3 for the game and 10-0 in the first half alone.

Natalie Shaw '28 earned a spot in the starting lineup in her first career game while fellow classmates Brooke Miner '28 and Teddy Tolbert '28 came off the bench to make their collegiate debuts.
 
The Cardinals are back on the road this weekend as Wesleyan heads to Poughkeepsie to face Vassar on Saturday at Noon. Wesleyan is 8-0 all-time against Vassar but the two sides haven't met since 1990.