On Friday, Amherst dominated Trinity en route to a 5-0 win. The Jeffs were led by sophomore goaltender Stacey Johnston. Johnston, who saved all 17 shots sent her way, was tremendous in the net for her second shutout of the year.
"Recently there has been a huge focus on defense and protecting the area around our net. Stacey has been great in net and we need to give her all the support we can," said defender Katherine Kelly '08. "When we play well in the defensive zone it makes it a lot easier to get things going at the other end and to score some goals."
The scoring was led by standout first-year forward Lindsey Harrington's two goals. Junior forward Kristen Forsberg started the scoring in the first period off an assist from Kelly and first-year forward Tarasai Karega. Following Forsberg's goal, Karega found the back of the net off a rebound, and Harrington added a short-handed goal and a fancy backhand goal. Senior forward Leah Kaplan capped the scoring with a goal in the third period. Overall, Amherst was sharp in all aspects of the game, controlling the puck at the offensive end and dominating in the shots-on-goal department, 24-17.
On Saturday, Amherst did not have as easy of a time against Hamilton. The Jeffs fell behind early, but showed their toughness and perseverance in a 3-2 comeback win after facing an early 2-0 deficit. After giving up the early goals, the defense and Johnston did a good job denying Hamilton another goal. She tallied a whopping 39 saves, including 19 in the final period.
Late in the second period senior forward Renee Sisti got Amherst on the board with a beautiful wrist shot, narrowly edging the puck past the Continental goalie. At 17:54 in the period, just a few minutes after Sisti's goal, Harrington notched a power play goal off a feed from Kelly. After gaining the momentum, playing good defense and controlling the puck, the stage was set for Karega. At 9:34 Karega scored what proved to be the game-winning goal off a missed shot from junior defender Rachel Simon.
Kelly felt that the win was very important for the team and was happy with the way Amherst was able to come from behind. "I think we have realized how important it is for us to focus on playing hard and not giving up for an entire game," she said. "Everybody knew that we had to turn our season around or face a situation where we didn't make the playoffs, and I believe that everyone made a commitment to work hard and do all the little things right so that we could start winning again."
On Jan. 24, Amherst had another come from behind win. This time, Amherst defeated St. Anslem College by a score of 2-1. The Jeffs first-year forward Anna MacLean tied the game at 1-1. The tie was broken in the second period when junior forward Tes Siarnacki scored the game-winning goal at 11:55. Between the pipes for Amherst, Johnston was impressive as she stopped a total of 26 shots after letting the first shot on goal slip by.
Before the three-game winning streak, the Jeffs had struggled. On Jan. 21, Amherst lost a 5-3 decision against the ninth-ranked Bowdoin College Polar Bears at Orr Rink. The previous day, Amherst struggled defensively as they lost to the Colby College Mules by a score of 5-3.
On Jan. 15, however, Amherst had arguably its biggest win-a 2-1 victory of the then ninth -ranked University of Wisconsin-River Falls. The win was monumental for the Jeffs, as it marked the first time that they defeated a nationally ranked team in school history. The Jeffs played stellar defense and Johnston was superb in goal, stopping 26 shots. Karega scored a power play goal to tie the game in the second period. The game stayed knotted until MacLean scored the game winning goal three minutes into the third period. Amherst's defense was phenomenal down the stretch, fending off the Falcons' attempts to tie the game with a power play goal.
Previously, Amherst dropped decisions to St. Thomas and Trinity, but defeated Hamilton and Holy Cross.
Next up for the Lady Jeffs is the Elmira College Eagles, which will take place on February 4th at Orr Rink at 2:30 p.m.
NESCAC Notes
Middlebury remains number one in the country with an overall record of 17-0. Bowdoin is second in the NESCAC with an 8-3 conference record. Amherst is sixth in the conference with a 7-9 overall record, ranked ahead of Trinity, Conn. College and Wesleyan University. Wesleyan first-year goaltender Rachel Sterman was named NESCAC Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 23 after compiling 96 saves in a win and loss against Williams College. Amherst's Lindsey Harrington was named NESCAC Player of the Week for Jan. 9 after netting two goals and dishing three assists in two games. For the week of Jan. 30, Lady Jeff goaltender Stacey Johnston was rewarded for her oustanding effort with a NESCAC Player of the Week recognition stopping 82 shots and boasting and a 3-0 record during the week.