MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – Hosting a NESCAC Tournament game for the second straight season, the four-seed Wesleyan field hockey team plays host to five-seed Williams in the Quarterfinal round on Saturday at Noon from Hicks Field. The Cardinals (12-3, 7-3 NESCAC) seek their first NESCAC Tournament win since 2005 and look to defeat the Ephs (8-7, 6-4 NESCAC) in the process, who've ended Wesleyan's season in each of the past two years.
 
Wesleyan completed the best regular season in team history, winning 12 games which is just one shy of the single-season wins record. The Cardinals defeated both Amherst and Williams by 1-0 score lines to capture the 2025 Little Three Championship, securing the team's fourth Little Three title in program history and first since 2003. Wesleyan toppled the seven-time defending NCAA Div. III Champion Middlebury 2-1 in double overtime on the road, defeating the Panthers for the first time on the road in team history. The Cardinals tied a single-season record for most shutouts (seven) and achieved the highest ranking in program history this week at No. 7 in the NFHCA Coaches' Poll.
 
Heading into the postseason winners of eight straight, the second-longest win streak in team history, the Cardinals feature a balanced offense with five Cardinals scoring at least four goals on the year. Georgia Adams '26 leads the team in points with 21 (eight goals, five assists) and she just vaulted into second place on the all-time career points list at Wesleyan with 105. Leila Feldman '28 leads the Cardinals in goals with nine and is coming off a career game in the regular season finale, where she scored three goals and added an assist for a seven-point game.
 
A pair of first-years in Meera Patel '29 and Emily Smith '29 have piled up the points in their debut seasons, with Patel having five goals and a team-leading seven assists while Smith has four goals and five assists. Patel enters the postseason on a four-game point streak while Smith was named the NFHCA Div. III Offensive Player of the Week after she scored both goals in the Cardinals' 2-1 double OT win at Middlebury.
 
The midfield features a mix of veterans and underclassmen as Brooke Miner '28 (one goal, six assists) has a second straight season with 8+ points, Sydney Cameron '26 has played in all 64 possible games over her four years, Kenzie Mauro '27 has 30 career points in 48 games played, and Marley Procopio '29 has stepped in and provided steady defensive play while having the most minutes played of any non-defender on the team.
 
The back line has played a key role in the Cardinals' defensive dominance this year as the team has allowed just 18 goals in 15 games thus far, while posting seven shutouts. Sophomore center back Natalie Shaw '28 has started all 15 games and has the most minutes played of any field player on the team (893). Junior left back Anna Broderick '27 has also started all 15 games and while senior right back Kiernan McColgan '26 has started 10 straight games heading into the postseason.
 
Four-year starter at goalie Audrey Pace '26 is enjoying her best statistical season, posting a 1.13 goals against average and .826 save percentage with a 12-3 record. Named an All-American in her sophomore year, Pace has played nearly 3500 minutes and started 62 games over her four years, posting a career save percentage of .762 with 35 career wins.
 
Williams is a storied program, with two Final Four appearances in the past three seasons, and feature a pair of standout seniors in forward Kiki Higgins and defender Pilar Torres. Higgins leads the team and ranks second in the NESCAC with 28 points (12 goals, four assists) while she has 114 career points (41 goals, 32 assists) and has started 75 games for the Ephs. Torres is a weapon on both sides of the field as she has 76 career points (30 goals, 16 assists) while starting all 76 possible games over her four-year career, playing over 4500 minutes. Williams ranks second-best in the NESCAC in scoring defense, allowing just 15 goals in 15 games this year. The Ephs head into the postseason having lost six of their past seven games but six of those losses have come by one goal while the only two-goal defeat in that stretch came against No. 1 ranked Christopher Newport.
 
The Cardinals and Ephs are very familiar foes, with Williams knocking the Cardinals out of the NESCAC Tournament in 2023 and in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament in 2024, ending the Wesleyan's seasons in both results. Wesleyan fell 3-2 in overtime back in 2023 with Pace setting a NESCAC Tournament record with 23 saves in that contest. Last year's NCAA Tournament meeting saw the Ephs score three times in the first quarter only to see Adams score twice to make it a game late, but the Cardinals' comeback bid came up just short in a 3-2 defeat in Williamstown. Saturday's game marks the first-ever postseason meeting between Wesleyan and Williams that'll be played in Middletown.