Athletics

Tom Matlack ’86 P’16 has never felt as in the zone as he did while rowing at Wesleyan. “It's this weird thing where you're with eight other people, and you're trying to move in exact synchronicity,” Matlack explained. “There's a feeling when you're doing that well that the boat actually feels almost like it's floating. And that there's no way to tell who is contributing what to the speed of the boat. So, you have to trust that each of the other people who are rolling with you is working just as hard as you are.” For Matlack and many…

The $14,635 the Softball team raised on Wesleyan Athletics Giving Day (WAGD) will help to cover its spring break trip to Florida where it will play over a third of its season schedule in just nine days. The money Softball raised, while a significant sum for the program, is just a portion of the near-record breaking total of $521,363 from 2,136 donors that Wesleyan’s 28 athletic teams combined to raise on WAGD on Feb. 15, the second highest total in the fundraiser’s history. Alongside funding the crucial spring break trip, Softball Head Coach Jennifer Lane said the money it raised…

Men's basketball Head Coach Joe Reilly schedules plenty of visits with prospective students interested in joining his team. But a scheduled visit with Leo Clibanoff '23 in the spring of 2017 wasn't shaping up to be an ordinary recruit visit, because Clibanoff wasn't interested in a roster spot; instead, he was looking to assist Reilly behind the scenes. Reilly remembers the visit well. "We had an instant connection," he says, recalling the conversation with Clibanoff and his dad, Andy, a Wesleyan grad '86 and member of the ice hockey team for two years. Initially, Clibanoff inquired about being a manager, but when Reilly learned…

Eudice Chong '18, one of greatest individual competitors in the history of Wesleyan Athletics, competed in the 2023 Australian Open qualifiers. She lost to Carol Zhao of Canada 6-3, 6-2. Chong holds the distinction of being the first Wesleyan women’s tennis player to compete in a Grand Slam event. Chong’s career trajectory has been on the rise the past several years. Her Women’s Tennis Association ranking has increased, and she used the pandemic disruption wisely, training for 18 months at the Hong Kong Sports Institute. As a result, Chong has been playing the best tennis of her professional career heading…

The past year began in uncertainty due to the global pandemic and the ongoing strife happening in our country and throughout the world. However, the Wesleyan University community persevered and thrived. Faculty explored new and innovative ideas, and students grew in ways that they couldn’t have anticipated. Throughout the year the Wesleyan Connection was there to document the life of a place that is always creative, always pushing for a better and more just world. Here’s a small sampling of the stories that mattered this past year: January The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation funded the Carceral Connecticut Project, a multidisciplinary…

Homecoming and Family Weekend 2022 lived up to its billing – families reunited, a couple got engaged, a deep legacy was honored, and the Wesleyan community came together to celebrate. Over 5,000 people watched the football team trounce their archrival Williams College, 35-21, to win the Little Three Championship. The team never trailed Williams during the game and put up almost 500 yards of offense, led by senior quarterback David Estevez’s two touchdown passes and touchdown run. As he gathered with friends on Andrus Field, Chris Richardson ’93, a former Cardinal running back and team captain, reflected on what Homecoming…

A little after 6 p.m. last Tuesday, the din of pre-game practice shots and tinny hip-hop quieted inside Silloway Gymnasium, and Wesleyan’s women’s volleyball team assembled for the season opener against the Coast Guard Bears. Within moments of the first serve, the scoreboard registered the Cardinals’ lead: 5-0, a fitting start to a game that the No. 21 nationally ranked team ultimately won three sets to none. But it was also an accidental symbol: On the 50th anniversary of the passage of Title IX of the Education Amendments—the landmark civil rights law perhaps best known for expanding women’s opportunities to…

Herbert Francis Kenny, Jr., Adjunct Professor of Physical Education, Emeritus, and former men’s basketball coach, passed away on July 9 at the age of 89. Herb earned his BS from Saint Bonaventure University and his MS from the University of Connecticut. He arrived at Wesleyan in 1964 and spent the next 30 years here, serving 27 years as head coach of men’s basketball, 23 years as head coach of golf, and 15 years as an assistant football coach. Inducted into the Wesleyan Hall of Fame in 2018 and the Middletown Sports Hall of Fame in 2017, Herb was the winningest…

Terry Jackson, a fixture within the Wesleyan Athletics department for more than 30 years, died on June 14. Jackson spent 31 years (1968-98) as the Cardinals' men's soccer head coach while he also served as the men's lacrosse head coach for 23 seasons (1974-96). Inducted into the Wesleyan Hall of Fame in 2010, Jaackson is the winningest men's soccer coach in program history, sporting an all-time record of 210-164-36. He led Wesleyan to three ECAC New England Division III titles in 1973, 1980 and 1991. Jackson was recognized as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Division III Regional…

Maeve Hoffman ’23 looked for a single positive outcome from every race of 2021-22 women’s indoor track season. It could be something big – like a win, of which there were many – or a technical improvement that brought her closer to her ideal performance. No matter what, she sought to find one good thing. “Running is, for me, a lot about positive momentum. If you find that one good thing and channel it, you know the next (meet) will be better. If you don’t, the weeks are going to fly by and it’s not going to go your way,”…

Silloway Gymnasium was pretty dead in the early days of the pandemic. The men’s basketball team had cancelled its season. Because of social distancing requirements, even playing one-on-one was prohibited. For the few players remaining on campus, there was nothing but drills. Lots and lots of drills. In those mundane practice sessions, the seeds were planted for a NESCAC championship. “We were practicing a new offense this year. We wanted to really get out and push the ball and just be faster than teams offensively and defensively,” said Sam Peek ‘22. And, just maybe, all that time in the gym…

One good bounce and the Wesleyan men’s basketball team would still be playing in the NCAA Division III Tournament. After an exciting start to the weekend where Wesleyan trounced Husson 81-61 in a first-round matchup Friday night, the Cardinals fell just short against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 59-58 in Saturday’s second-round game. After a hard-fought last few minutes where the lead kept changing hands, Preston Maccoux’s ['23] fallaway jumper hit the front rim and bounced away as time expired. “There isn’t much to say in those circumstances except to give (the players) a hug, tell them you care about them and…

Tom Matlack ’86 P’16: On Acorns Becoming Oak Trees and Rowing For Coach Will Scoggins

Wesleyan Athletics Giving Day A Success

Leo Clibanoff ’23: Head Coach Joe Reilly’s Right-Hand Man

Chong ’18 Competes in 2023 Australian Open

Year in Review: 2022

Wesleyan Celebrates Homecoming and Family Weekend 2022

Fifty Years After Title IX, Wesleyan’s Women Student-Athletes Push Forward

Wesleyan Mourns the Passing of Hall of Fame Coach Herb Kenny

Wesleyan Athletics Community Mourns the Loss of Longtime Soccer, LAX Coach Terry Jackson

Hoffman ’23 Earns All-American Honors in Women’s Indoor Track

Peek ’22 Named Division III All-American in Men’s Basketball

Men’s Basketball Caps Off Record Season With NCAA Tournament Run