As the fifth seed in the 2006 NESCAC Tournament, Amherst lost to fourth seed Colby College in the first round. When the zamboni cleared the ice after Amherst's the game, it could not erase the bad taste in the Jeffs' mouths, and they let loose that pent- up resentment in their home, season and NESCAC opener on Nov. 17. "We were really excited to get a chance for revenge, and we did just that," said tri-captain forward Kirsten Forsberg '07.
The White Mules struck first but the Jeffs held them to just one score. Meanwhile, Amherst out shot Colby 30-14. The Jeffs didn't get on the board until the second period, but scored twice in both the second and third frames for a 4-1 victory. Scoring for Amherst was defenseman Kirsten Dier '10 and forwards Tarasai Karega '09, Natanya Khazzam '08 and Kate Dennett '10. Krystyn Elek '10 picked up her first career win in goal. "In the Colby game, our pride was on the line," said tri-captain forward Tes Siarnacki '07. "They beat us soundly in the first round of NESCACs last season, and we were out to make a statement: Make like Spanish by starting AND ending our season with exclamation points."
The Colby win was crucial for a solid start to the season, and Amherst continued to play well throughout the weekend. Ninth-ranked Bowdoin College proved to be a more challenging opponent. The game was a special teams battle: Of the combined 13 goals, six came on the power play, one was scored as time expired on a penalty and the final goal of the game was a short-handed empty net tally. "That game was really back and forth though, and either team could have easily won that game," said Forsberg.
Bowdoin pulled out an 8-5 win, but the Jeffs were pleased with how they played against the Polar Bears. Tickling the twine for Amherst were forwards Meg Dickoff '07, Lindsey Harrington '09, Anna MacLean '09, Siarnacki and Dennett. "Scoring five goals against Bowdoin was an amazing accomplishment for us," said tri-captain forward Alena Harrison '07. "There are very few teams that have scored that many goals on them in the past few years as they have a notoriously strong women's hockey program."
After a short break for Thanksgiving, the Jeffs showed no ill effects from the tryptophan as they stuffed another bird: the Wesleyan University Cardinals. In back-to-back games against their Little Three opponent, the Jeffs allowed only one goal and scored eight times en route to two NESCAC wins. Karega was the leading scorer, posting assists on all three goals in the first game and scoring twice in Amherst's 5-1 win the next day. For her efforts, Karega was named NESCAC Player of the Week.
Of the seven rookies on the 20-person roster, all six skaters have at least one point and Elek was between the pipes for two of Amherst's three wins. "I think that the new players are fitting in very well," said Karega. "You can see this by looking at the stats thus far, but also if you've watched a game, you would see the [first-years] doing the little things, fighting battles together with the upperclassmen."
The Jeffs will have to keep on battling as they face one of their toughest weekends this week. The road trip begins with a visit to archrival Williams College on Friday and then to three-time defending National Champion Middlebury College on Saturday. "The three wins that we have had felt great! While it's nice to win like that, we cannot get lazy or take any teams lightly," said Harrison. Amherst will use the excitement and momentum it picked up from the first two weeks as a springboard for the rest of the season. Said sophomore defender Julie Radziewicz:\, "It feels like Amherst hockey is finally ready to be a real contender in NESCAC."
NESCAC Notes
Middlebury and Bowdoin Colleges sport 2-0 records and are currently tied for first. Amherst is in third with a record of 3-1.