On Thursday, the team faced visiting Conn. The men had high expectations coming into the game,, but they fell behind early and trailed 7-3 at halftime.
Conn came out firing again in the second half, and Amherst entered the fourth quarter behind 10-4. The Jeffs' physical play led to many penalties, allowing the Conn offense to score five goals on power plays.
However, Amherst dug down deep and managed to score five unanswered goals in the fourth period but fell just short of the victory, 11-9.
Chris Condlin '03 and Gene Nogi '02 each had two goals in the game.
Although Amherst fell two goals short of a victory, there were definite positives to the game.
"The play of the game felt really good, but we didn't quite get there. What made this game so much more intense was the fact that the defense shut them down and the offense went hard at net," said Alexei Kudla '04.
The Jeffs next took on archrival Williams and found themselves on the losing end again, this time falling 14-6.
The team decided to change some defensive sets the day before the game and seemed to have trouble adjusting to the new style of play.
The Jeffs had some trouble getting back on transition and allowed the Ephs many fast break opportunities. Co-captain Eric Edelson '01 had two goals in the game and Mike Allison '04, Phil Cameron '01, Rob Gibson '01 and Nogi each added one.
Although Corey Simonson '01 was able to come up with 14 saves on the day, the Jeffs had trouble finding the back of the Williams net.
"Corey Simonson made some amazing saves with people shooting point blank at him," said Kudla.
The seventh-seeded Jeffs will now proceed to the NESCAC Tournament where they will face second-seeded Wesleyan University in the first round.