In a battle with NESCAC playoff implications, Wesleyan (7-8, 3-6) led from start to finish in defeating visiting Bates (7-7, 3-6), 14-12, to lock up the seventh and final seed in the NESCAC tournament and a trip to second-seeded Amherst Sunday April 27, for a first-round game.

Bates just missed qualifying for the tournament as the Bobcats tied Wesleyan with a 3-6 conference record but lost on the head-to-head tie-breaker. If Williams had beaten Bowdoin today, Wesleyan would have been seeded sixth and Bates would have qualified as the seventh seed. Bowdoin beat Williams, 11-10, to get into the tournament and leave Williams behind. Middlebury is the top seed with a first-round bye while #3 Trinity hosts #6 Bowdoin and #4 Tufts host #5 Colby on Sunday.

In Middletown, Wesleyan opened the scoring as senior Sophia Kim score at 21:52 and Wesleyan used it to race to a 5-1 lead after 17 minutes of play with freshman Allie Lynch scoring two goals and adding an assist. She finished the game with two goals and two assists to pace the Cardinal offense, upping her point total to 28 on the year.

Bates rallied to make it a 5-3 game on goals by junior Caroline Thomas and senior Molly Wagner. Wagner went on to add a second-half goal, then assist on Bates' 10th goal with :52 to play, giving her 29 points this year and 182 in her career. She eclipsed the all-time Bates career scoring record of 181 points held by Stephanie Smith who graduated in 1987.

Wesleyan netted the final two goals of the first half, both by sophomore Sarah Hoefle, for a 7-3 lead. The teams split the opening four goals of the second half before Wesleyan rattled off four of the next five for a 13-6 lead with 7:11 to play. It was a 14-7 Cardinal advantage heading into the final two minutes when Wesleyan went to the bench. Bates took advantage of the Cardinal subs to score five goals in the final 1:21, two by sophomore Morgan Maciewicz, who led the Bobcats with four goals, giving her 28 on the year. Thomas, who put home her second goal of the game in the final second, improved her team-leading total to 38 this season.

Wesleyan had five players with two goals in the game as freshman Jess Chukwu (25 on the year), junior Sarah Orkin (team-high 28) and freshman Maggie Lile joined Hoefle and Lynch.

Wesleyan junior goalie Rachel Stemerman racked up a career-high 17 saves and had allowed only seven goals in 58:30 before the Bates eruption against the Cardinals' second group down the stretch. Bates keeper freshman Mara Krueger made eight saves.

2008-04-26