The Lord Jeffs will have to bounce back from a pair of tight conference losses as they take to the road for three conference games this week. If Amherst has success on the road, the team will be well-positioned for the NESCAC playoffs and will have plenty of momentum heading into its season-ending contest against Williams College at Hitchcock Field on May 1.
Last Saturday, April 10, Amherst dropped a game to then second-ranked Middlebury College by just one goal. As far as losses go, the Jeffs played very well and it was as encouraging a game as they could have hoped for. When the Jeffs resumed conference play this weekend at Wesleyan University, the squad was hoping to tap into the momentum and confidence it had acquired the previous week at Middlebury. But Wesleyan proved too formidable a foe.
The Cardinals got off to a fast start in front of a sun-dappled home crowd on Saturday, seizing a 3-2 lead after the first quarter before adding two second-period goals to take a 5-2 advantage going into the half.
Down by three goals after 30 minutes of play, the Jeffs responded with a flurry of scoring. The Jeffs cut into the Cardinal lead in the third quarter, outscoring their hosts 3-2 and narrowing the score to 7-5 heading into the final frame.
Amherst increased its level of play in the fourth quarter. First, midfielder Joaquin Walker '05 scored Amherst's sixth goal of the game, cutting the Wesleyan lead to one. Then fellow midfielder Josh Cherney '05 netted the game-tying goal, his second of the game, to set the score at 7-7 late in the fourth quarter.
If the situation seems familiar, it should. Just the previous week Amherst had been tied with Middlebury in the final minutes, fighting in vain to get the game-winning goal. Yet, the Jeffs were once again bested by their opponent late in the game. Wesleyan's Glenn Adams sank Amherst, beating Jeff goaltender Cushing Donelan '05 with just 1:27 remaining to seize the lead. Wesleyan added another goal before the game ended to make the final score 9-7.
"After starting the season 6-2, with narrow losses to Nazareth and Middlebury, teams took notice of our offensive firepower and have tried to combat that by running zones," said co-captain attacker Mike Allison '04. "At Wesleyan we didn't move the ball well, we took poor shots and a few calls didn't go our way."
Despite the loss, there were a few bright spots on the day for Amherst. Cherney scored two goals, his fourth and fifth of the year, and Allison added a pair of strikes as well. With 13 goals on the season, Allison is Amherst's second-leading goal scorer, behind only rookie attackman Derek Cherney and his 19 tallies. Midfielder Colby Griffith '05 notched a goal and an assist and attackman Kevin Boova '06 picked up two assists.
Amherst also played one non-conference game this week, a 13-7 romp over Western New England College on Thursday afternoon at Hitchcock Field. Amherst jumped out to a 4-1 lead after the first quarter and never looked back. The Jeffs added two more goals in the second period, six in the third and one final strike in the fourth quarter to close the game.
Donelan made six saves in 52 minutes of work en route to his seventh win of the year. Backup goalie Raul Altreche '06 made two saves in the final eight minutes of play. Three Amherst players notched four points apiece: Allison, Walker and attacker Alex Casertano '05.
The Jeffs (3-2 NESCAC) now look ahead to three conference road games this week. Amherst visits Tufts University (4-1, second place in NESCAC) today, Bowdoin College (3-2) on Saturday and Connecticut College (1-4) on Tuesday. Amherst will have to travel close to 800 miles over the next seven days to complete the road trip. After this week's games, the only remaining NESCAC game before the playoffs will be the season finale against Williams College.
Allison offered some insight into how the Jeffs must approach the coming games. "The team was obviously dejected after the [Wesleyan] loss, but when we step back and look at what we have accomplished so far, there is no need to think we should just throw in the towel," he said. "The way we're looking at the season now is that it's only half begun. We have 11 games to go until we end up playing for a National Championship in Baltimore."