Co-captain Christine Ryan '04 explained, "Wesleyan was a good team that came out really strong and scored first on us."
The first goal of the game came with twenty minutes left in the first half. Wesleyan's Louisa Mook buried a feed from Megan Gauvey-Kern to put the Cardinals up by one.
Every tally mattered in a game where both goalies played stellar defense. K.C Cosentino '05 had five saves in the Jeffs' losing effort, and her opponent in the other net, Caitlin Kelly, had six.
Amherst appeared to have scored their first goal at the close of the first half, but the referee recalled the goal. In order to score in field hockey, the ball must be touched by at least one player on the attacking team within the circle around the opposing team's goal cage. Ryan fired a pass from outside the circle to Katherine Skrivan '06 that found its way into the cage. The goal was nullified because the officials concluded that the pass was not tipped before it found the back of the net. "The referee made a controversial call just before the close of the first half when she called back our first goal, but we were resolved to fight back hard in the second half," Ryan said.
Going into the second half, the Jeffs were determined to score and pounded away at the Cardinals' defense, looking for a hole. Throughout the game, Amherst tallied seven shots on goal to Wesleyan's twelve and eight penalty corners to Wesleyan's six. The equalizer came with 18:15 left in regulation. Lauren Anderson '05 scored the clutch unassisted goal, her first of the season, in a scramble in front of the Cardinal net.
Both teams fought hard to secure a regulation victory, but Cosentino and Kelly held firm, forcing an overtime period. Overtime has generally been beneficial to the Jeffs this season, but on this particular occasion, Amherst came up short. "We had several chances to score in overtime, but unfortunately the score didn't go our way this time," Ryan said.
Kelly, the Cardinals goalie, made two crucial saves in the sudden-death period, and Jenn Wasserman broke the deadlock with 1:15 left. The game-winner came off a pass from Mara Gross that slipped through the Amherst defense. Suddenly, the ball was in the net, the Homecoming game had come to a disappointing close and the Wesleyan squad was running onto the field in celebration. The Cardinal win gives them a 6-6 overall record and a 2-4 record in NESCAC play, while the Jeffs' third loss leaves them with a record of 8-3.
It was a contest that could have gone either way. The Jeffs played strong field hockey, a positive indicator for the rest of the season. Amherst will certainly be hungry for a win against their next opponent, Connecticut College. All three of Amherst's remaining matches are against NESCAC opponents. The rest of the season will certainly be intense.
"Despite this loss, our team has very high hopes about our remaining conference games and our post season in the NESCAC tournament," said Ryan. The Jeffs have a strong record going into their last three important matches, and have the opportunity to come up with some big wins.