BRUNSWICK, Me. – The Wesleyan field hockey team heads into the NESCAC Tournament as the #6 seed and are set to face the #3 seed Bowdoin on Saturday at Noon in the Quarterfinal round.
 
The Cardinals are making their 17^th all-time appearance in the NESCAC Tournament. This marks the team's fourth straight appearance after Wesleyan missed out on the NESCAC Tournament from 2014-22. Wesleyan is the reigning NESCAC Runner-Up, having beaten Williams at home and top-seeded Tufts on the road, advancing to the NESCAC Championship game for the first time in team history. Wesleyan fell in the title game to Bates, 2-0, and look to make a repeat run this season.
 
Wesleyan heads into the postseason with a 10-5 overall record, sporting a 5-5 mark in NESCAC play this year. The Cardinals are winners of three straight, including a convincing 6-1 win over Top 15 ranked Amherst on the road last Saturday. All five of Wesleyan's losses have come by a one-goal margin against a ranked opponent, including a pair of overtime defeats to Top 5 ranked Tufts and Hamilton.
 
When looking at NESCAC-only competition, the Cardinals are the second-highest scoring offense in the league, averaging 2.4 goals per game in NESCAC play in the regular season. The Cardinals sport the fifth-best defense, allowing 1.3 goals per game. Both Wesleyan (5.3) and Bowdoin (5.2) are in the bottom half of the NESCAC in terms of penalty corners per game against league opponents this season.
 
Emily Smith '29 has been the leading producer on offense this year for the Cardinals as the sophomore midfielder has eight goals and 13 assists for 29 points on the year. She ranks second in the NESCAC in points and first in assists. Leila Feldman '28 leads the team with nine goals this season. Brooke Miner '28 has been on a tear of late, scoring in three straight games while 18 of her 20 points this season have come in the past seven games alone. Teddy Tolbert '28 has six goals and three assists while Meera Patel '29 has five assists from the midfield spot.
 
Natalie Shaw '28 leads the back line as the Wesleyan center back is a steady force on defense and in the penalty corner unit as the junior has a career-high five goals and two assists to her name this season. Keira O'Flynn '29 has started all 15 games in cage for Wesleyan and sports an 8-5 record with a 1.01 goals against average, 41 saves, and a 77.4 save percentage. She heads into the NESCAC Tournament having allowed 0 goals in the past three games, including an eight-save shutout of Conn. College in the regular season finale on Tuesday.
 
The regular season meeting between Wesleyan and Bowdoin saw the Polar Bears prevail 2-1 in a game that was decided in the final minutes of regulation. Wesleyan went up 1-0 midway through the second quarter on an Emilia Napolitano '29 goal, but Bowdoin equalized five minutes later thanks to Fei Yang-Sady. Then with less than four minutes to go in regulation, Hannah Balmelli found the net after a scrappy penalty corner chance that proved enough in the 2-1 Bowdoin win. This marks the first postseason meeting between the two sides since 2005.