For the second time in two days, co-captain forward Danielle Williams '03 netted the game-winner to push Amherst past the Camels. With less than a minute to play in the second period, Williams took a pass from defenseman Lauren Caldwell '05 and went to work on the Conn defender at center ice.
Driving hard down the right side, Williams was able to turn the corner and bear down on Camel goaltender Anna Trafton one-on-one. Williams flicked a wrister high towards the glove side, which Trafton appeared to get her glove on but could not keep out of the net. Jeff goaltender Heidi Alexander '03 made the one goal lead stand up for the rest of the game.
The game-winner came at a crucial point in the tilt. At 18:20 of a second period largely dominated by Amherst, Conn forward Janet Hanson was able to tie the game at two. Had the Camels been able to take the tie into the locker room, the momentum would have likely gone with them. However, Williams answered back less than a minute after the Camel tally, deflating Conn and ultimately securing the victory.
Conn opened the scoring midway through the first period on a goal from defenseman Kyle Ridgway. Amherst got the equalizer at 18:50 of the opening stanza, with forward Alison White '04 picking up her first goal of the season on assists by forward Annie Grabowski '05 and forward Katie Potter '04.
This trio would strike again early in the second period. On the power play, the Jeffs worked the puck from Potter to Grabowski and on to White, who fired a wrist shot from the slot top shelf for Amherst's first power play goal of the season.
The previous day, Amherst jumped out to the lead with a second period goal from forward Tory Serues '04. Williams and Potter assisted on the play. Conn forward Caley Boyd knotted the game at one with a goal of her own early in the third.The game would remain tied until the 17:50 mark, when Williams took a pass from Caldwell and beat Trafton for the goal. Potter picked up the secondary assist on the game winner.
The weekend sweep meant a lot to an Amherst team that has been hungry in the past for NESCAC wins. The Camels, a team that has traditionally bested the Jeffs, provided Amherst with some bulletin board material after Saturday's game, supposedly expressing disbelief that they had fallen to an inferior Amherst bunch. But after two one-goal losses, the 0-3 Camels can hardly feel superior.
"This was a huge weekend for us, a turning point and a defining moment," said fifth-year Head Coach Kay Cowperthwait. "It was great to beat Connecticut College twice."
"Not only was Sunday's game a team victory, but it was also a moral victory," Williams added.
There were no team victories, unfortunately, and few moral ones when the Jeffs opened their season last weekend.
On Friday, Nov. 16, their schedule took them to Middlebury, Vt., to battle Middlebury College. The Jeffs fell 9-0, mustering only two shots on goal against a suffocating Panther defense. Middlebury, ranked number one in the nation, had not been beaten in its previous 112 games.
Things got easier the next day, but not by much, when Amherst visited second-ranked Williams College. The Ephs managed six goals and allowed none.
The upside for Amherst was their 17 shots on goal. However, the Jeffs allowed a staggering 53 shots on their own net.
The Jeffs were mum about the losses, but clearly have not allowed the lopsided defeats to distract them from their goals this season. While the women's team is eyeing the NESCAC playoffs as its ultimate goal, the Jeffs are concentrating every day on skating hard and talking it up.
Looking ahead, Amherst will host two more NESCAC foes this upcoming weekend. Friday night, Bowdoin College comes to Orr Rink for a 7:00 face-off, followed the next day by Colby College, when they'll drop the puck at 3:00 p.m.
They'll meet a 2-2 Amherst team that, for perhaps the first time, is skating like a team to beat.