Amherst had dropped two regular season games to Colby, but the Jeffs were looking to advance in the postseason for the first time in team history. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be, as Colby's first-year forward Rebecca Julian punished the Jeffs, playing the best game of her short career.
Julian was responsible for getting the White Mules a quick lead just 6:38 into the first period. However, the rookie star was nowhere close to done for the evening. In just under two minutes later Julian added her second goal of the game, and the Jeffs quickly found themselves facing a two-goal deficit. Colby added one more goal before Amherst forward Anna MacLean '09 put the Jeffs on the board. MacLean's goal, unassisted, brought the game to a 3-1 score at the closure of the first period.
After the first period, the Jeffs tightened up on defense and played much better hockey. However, a penalty in the second period allowed the Mules a power-play opportunity which Julian capitalized on, completing the hattrick at 16:06 in the period to give Colby a 4-1 lead. Despite being outscored 1-0 in the second period, Amherst controlled the puck at the offensive end for the majority of the period and outshot the opponent by a 15-7 margin. The Jeffs had many shots on goal, but Colby's goaltender Genevieve Triganne did a tremendous job in goal.
Amherst's solid play continued into the third period and the Jeffs were able to close the margin to 4-2 at 7:57 in the period. Standout first-year forward Tarasai Karega scored a power-play goal, her team-leading 16th of the season. The goal was assisted by sophomore forward Megan Quinn and junior defender Tes Siarnacki. Amherst played excellent defense in the period and sophomore goaltender Stacey Johnston did a great job between the pipes, stopping all 15 shots sent her way in the period. Unfortunately, Amherst was not able to close the gap as penalties caused them to play shorthanded for much of the period.
"I think we moved the puck very well," said senior defender Leah Kaplan. "But, we weren't putting enough shots on net. We also did not protect our blue line as well as we should have."
Ultimately, Colby's strong first period was too much for Amherst to overcome. "We just couldn't get out of the hole that we dug for ourselves," said senior tri-captain defender Amanda Mattei. "We wanted it and we played like we wanted it, but they came out strong."
The ice hockey team has played really well at times, but has also struggled for spurts and has had trouble recovering from large early deficits. In past games such as battles against Williams and Middlebury Colleges, Amherst has out played the opponent for the majority of the game, but one bad period or sequence cost them the game.
"We played well for 50 minutes, which wasn't enough," said Mattei. "Colby scored three goals in the first period, and for the rest of the game we outscored them 2-1. We had the talent and the heart, which is the hardest part to accept, because we definitely could have won."
Amherst ended the 2005-06 season with a 10-15 overall record. The Jeffs made great strides over the course of the season and turned into more of an offensive powerhouse than they envisioned in the beginning of the year. Amherst will suffer key losses next year, as forward Renee Sisti (13 points), forward Leah Kaplan (five points), defender Amanda Mattei (four points) and defender Bethany Croy will graduate.
However, the future still looks bright as the top three scorers still have three years remaining at Amherst. Forward Lindsey Harrington '09 led the team with 25 points (15 goals and 10 assists). Second on the team in scoring was Karega with 21 points (16 goals and five assists) and third was MacLean with 14 points (10 goals and four assists). Additionally, sophomore goalie Stacey Johnston will be returning for two more years in goal. Johnston finished the season with a save percentage of .890 and allowed a total of 3.16 goals per game.
"Overall the season was successful," said Kaplan. "We played a handful of top 10 teams and beat one of them. Our schedule was grueling which only made us better and will keep making us better. I know that during next season and those that follow the team will keep improving more and more."
NESCAC Notes
Advancing in the NESCAC Tournament was second seed Bowdoin College, who narrowly edged Connecticut College 2-1. The number-three seed Williams College shut out Hamilton College 3-0 to advance to the semifinals. Colby will travel to Vermont to play top-seeded Middlebury College while Bowdoin and Colby will vie for a spot in the finals. Triganne, who was a wall against Amherst, earned NESCAC Player of the Week honors for the week of Feb. 20. Triganne helped lead the Mules to a 2-0-1 record for the week and compiled an astonishing 52 saves in a 2-2 tie against Bowdoin.