Despite their up-and-down week, the second-ranked Jeffs posted two more big conference wins. They have only two games remaining on their regular-season schedule, today's Senior Day matchup with visiting Bates College and Saturday's showdown at undefeated Williams College.
After almost blowing an 8-3 lead in Wednesday's victory at Tufts, the Jeffs turned in a much better all-around performance in Saturday's home date with Bowdoin. The hosts never trailed in Saturday's contest, scoring twice in the first 1:50 on goals from Sarah Scheessele '01 and Co-captain Kristin Osborn '01 to take an early 2-0 lead.
Bowdoin tied the game at two on goals from Samantha Hall and sophomore Libby Bourke, before Scheessele converted a perfect left-to-right feed from Mary Kate Allen '03 to put the Jeffs back ahead midway through the period. Four minutes later, Bowdoin would tie the game at three, and after an Osborn goal on a free-position attempt, the Polar Bears knotted the game at four on an unassisted goal from junior Beth Sherman.
Allen, however, gave the Jeffs a huge boost heading into halftime, converting an Allison Aldrich '04 feed with 2:23 left for a 5-4 lead, and sneaking a shot past Bowdoin keeper Julia McCombs with 21 seconds left before halftime to give the Jeffs a narrow 6-4 cushion at the intermission.
"I wasn't worried," said Head Coach Chris Paradis. "I knew that they were getting it; they were learning how to recognize their opportunities and they were wearing Bowdoin down defensively."
Paradis' optimism was well-founded. After Bowdoin sophomore Lindsey Powers scored just 15 seconds into the second half to cut the Amherst edge to one, the Jeffs broke the game open.
Scheessele started the run with an unassisted tally at 29:10, before Allen's career-high third goal of the afternoon at 26:04 gave the Jeffs an 8-5 lead. With Amherst repeatedly controlling the draw, the Jeffs continued to press on offense, and Scheessele added her fourth tally of the game just 48 seconds later for a 9-5 Amherst advantage.
A free-position goal from Abby Ouimet '03 at the 23:00-mark and a pretty goal in transition from Meg Martin '02 1:13 later opened up an 11-5 lead for the Jeffs, before Bowdoin finally stopped the bleeding with a goal from junior Whitney Church at 19:10.
"We just decided to take control of the game," said Co-captain Alison Kitay '01. "We held onto the ball better, and we were able to maintain our offensive control. It wasn't an individual effort, it was a team effort."
The team effort continued just 26 seconds after the Church goal, when Ouimet picked up her second goal of the game to push the Amherst lead back to six.
After back-to-back Polar Bear goals cut the lead to four, goalie Brooke Diamond '03 came on, in relief of starting Amherst netminder Jess Thaxton '01, to shut the door on the Polar Bears. Diamond stopped all four shots she faced in the game's final 13:43, and Ouimet finished her hat trick at 6:05 to seal the Jeffs' convincing 13-8 victory.
"It was a good rebound game," said Paradis. "We didn't lose to Tufts, but didn't play well either, and we worked hard in practice on slowing the tempo down and on taking better advantage of our opportunities. We were able to on Saturday, and I think that's the sign of a good team."
The solid win over nationally ranked Bowdoin could not have come at a better time for the Jeffs, who improved to 10-1 heading into two critical conference games this week.
This afternoon, the squad takes on the Bates College Bobcats for the first time ever, before Saturday's road match at fourth-ranked Williams College. Each of the last two years, the two teams have met on the final day of the regular season with an NCAA tournament bid hanging in the balance, and Amherst taking an 11-10 victory in Williamstown two years ago before a 12-9 Williams win in Amherst last year.
This time around, Saturday's game will primarily determine seeding for next week's NESCAC Tournament, with the Jeffs and the Ephs already guaranteed two of the top three slots in the seven-team draw.