Crowell made fives saves the day before against Trinity College in Amherst's regular season finale to preserve a 0-0 tie and ensure the Amherst team, currently ranked 11th in the nation, a home-field advantage in the NESCAC opener. After winning the opener to advance, Amherst will face third-seeded Williams College in the semi-finals at Bowdoin College at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Defending NESCAC champion Tufts, which beat a struggling Amherst team 2-1 early in the season, outshot Amherst 18-8 on Sunday and pressured the Jeffs' goal for most of regulation, but Amherst's backfield and Crowell held up well under the strain.
"As well as we played defensively, Piper was the difference. She came up with a couple of huge saves that sent the game into overtime," said Co-Head Coach Andy Jones '00.
Amherst's best chance to end the game before penalty kicks came 7:51 into the second overtime. Leading NESCAC scorer Ashley Harmeling '05, who'd been heavily guarded the entire match and just missed connecting with a well-placed cross with nine minutes left in the second half, managed to collect a loose ball just inside the top of the box. However, Tufts goalie Meg McCourt corralled Harmeling's left-footed shot to keep the tie intact.
Coach Jones chose Harmeling, whose 14 goals spearheaded Amherst's regular season success, to kick first in the best-of-five shootout. Harmeling rushed her shot, and the ball sailed high and over the goal.
"Being the first to kick in the shootout is no doubt a difficult task, but that is no excuse," said Harmeling. "I didn't wait to focus enough, and lost the mentality."
Faced with a miss from her team's best scorer, Crowell came up big in net, lunging to her left to save the first shot by Jen Baldwin, Tufts' leading scorer.
"Piper just seemed so confident in that situation," said Jones. "You can tell she has been there before."
Midfielder Sarah Coleman '06 and Tufts' Becca Doigan traded goals on the next set of kicks, and midfielder Alexa Lawson-Remer '04 followed with a goal past Tufts rookie keeper Annie Ross to put Amherst up 2-1. In a questionable decision, Tufts' Ross replaced McCourt, an experienced senior coming off a NESCAC Player of the Week award and the goalie who shut Amherst out to that point, for the shootout.
"We are not really sure why Tufts changed keepers," said tri-captain midfielder Sara Elkins '04. "It seemed a bit odd and definitely did not help them."
Up 2-1 and facing Tufts' third shooter, Crowell made the save of the year. First moving to her left in anticipation of a shot that went right, Crowell improvised with a hockey-style kick-save as the Amherst crowd roared.
Tri-captain midfielder Jenny Rossman '04 and Jumbo Sarah Gelb then traded goals, leaving Amherst up 3-2 with one pair of shooters left.
Defender Kaitlin Hill '06 coolly sealed the win for the Jeffs, blowing the ball past Ross. Raising her arms in triumph, Hill turned and raced back to her ecstatic team, erupting at midfield.
Hill's goal gave a tense Amherst squad a sigh of relief after consecutive days of scoreless ties and a tense round of penalty kicks. "The shootout was emotionally draining because we were all very anxious, but Piper had a couple of incredibly impressive saves and really saved the game," Elkins said.
"I've always secretly enjoyed penalty kicks because almost all the pressure is on the shooter, the keeper isn't expected to make the save," Crowell said in an effort to explain her success. "We had been practicing penalty kicks almost every day for about a week leading up to the game, so when it came time I felt very prepared."
Saturday's defensive battle with Trinity ended in a scoreless tie with another stellar performance by Crowell and the defense. The Jeffs outshot the Bantams 19-10, and Trinity remained in the game largely due to 11 saves from goalie Brenna Shields.
In the tournament semi-finals at Bowdoin on Saturday, Amherst will face archrival Williams, which it beat 1-0 on the road just last week. "Williams is always tough," said Elkins. "But the neutral field will hopefully play to our advantage and we will convert some opportunities for the win."