The week started with a loss at the College of the Holy Cross last Wednesday. Forward Alison White '04 opened the scoring in the first period off assists from defender Alicia Pichard '05 and forward Tory Serues '04. But the Jeffs could not make the slim lead stand up.
Holy Cross scored four straight goals, three of which came in the second period. Rachelle Beaudoin put the game out of reach for the Crusaders with a pair of goals.
Tri-captain forward Danielle Williams '03 added a late goal off an assist from Elissa Landes '04 to cut the Crusader lead to two, but it wasn't enough to stop Holy Cross from skating away with the 4-2 win. Tri-captain goaltender Heidi Alexander '03 made 19 saves in defeat.
On Saturday, Amherst wrapped up its NESCAC schedule by traveling to Clinton, N.Y. to battle the Hamilton College Continentals. The Jeffs held a one-goal lead twice in the game, but could not hold off the host Continentals, who came away with the tight 3-2 win.
Forward Annie Grabowski '05 opened the scoring with a first period goal on assists from Pichard and Landes. It was Grabowski's seventh point of the season, tying her for the rookie lead in scoring with forward Ellie Roe and defender Sarah Mason. Hamilton answered right back, however, knotting the game at one early in the second period.
White reclaimed the lead for the Jeffs with an unassisted goal just minutes later with her team-leading eighth goal of the season. The game remained at 2-1 until the third period, when both Landes and defender Lauren Caldwell '05 were assessed penalties, giving the Continentals an 86 second two-man advantage. It didn't take long for Hamilton to convert on the five-on-three and, just like that, the game was tied at two. Soon after, with the Jeffs back at full strength, Hamilton's Marissa Halligan scored the game-winning goal, to secure the win for the Continentals.
The Jeffs thought they had tied the game on a late goal from Williams, but the officials ruled that the puck did not cross the goal line.
Despite the third period collapse, the Jeffs were happy with their play. "Our team felt that it was one of our best games of the season," said Alexander.
The 8-15-0 (5-11-0) Continentals earned the sixth seed in the NESCAC Tournament with the victory. Trinity College, with its 4-12-0 NESCAC record, narrowly missed out on the playoffs. At 19-1-1 (16-0-0), Middlebury College is the first seed in the tournament and will host the final four. This weekend features three first round games, No. 7 Amherst at No. 2 Bowdoin, No. 6 Hamilton at No. 3 Colby College and No. 5 Wesleyan University at No. 4 Williams College.
The Jeffs will face off with 19-3-0 (13-2-0) Bowdoin Saturday afternoon in Maine. Even though the Polar Bears have one game remaining, they have already clinched the second seed in the tournament. The Jeffs were shutout twice by the Bears earlier in the season, 4-0 on Nov. 30 and 5-0 on Jan. 25. But even more foreboding is that in those two games, Amherst was outshot by a combined 109-16.
"I'm happy to be playing Bowdoin," said Alexander. "Every time we've played them this year, we've played harder than usual."
To win the tournament, the Jeffs will need to win three games in a row against the NESCAC elite. Amherst is a combined 1-10-1 against the other playoff teams this year. But no one ever said it would be easy and this Jeff team is prepared to do what it takes to shock the world-or at least the NESCAC.