The game was a rematch of last years' NESCAC quarterfinals in which Amherst ended Wesleyan's season with a 17-8 decision. The Cardinals began the 2007 season looking to avenge that loss and jumped out to a quick lead. Before 10 minutes had expired, the Cardinals had a 2-0 advantage. The Jeffs were able to slow down Wesleyan's attack, and at 21:08 quad-captain midfielder Lauren Dudley '07 cut the Cardinal lead in half.
That kicked off a flurry of five goals in the final nine minutes of the period. Wesleyan responded to bring its lead back to two goals, but sophomore attacker Amy Craig scored twice to tie the game at 3-3. The Cardinals refused to fly away and scored on a free-position shot with 10 seconds left in the half to take a 4-3 lead.
Wesleyan picked up where it left off to start the second half, stretching its lead to two goals once more. But Amherst had had enough. "We just calmed ourselves down, and recognized that we had been beating ourselves," said junior goalie Linda McEvoy. "Besides correcting little things, like off-ball movement on attack and draw controls, we really just collected our poise and confidence and came out in the second half, playing like the team we are."
The Jeffs ran away with the game, scoring seven unanswered goals to claim the 10-5 win. "We realized that our plays were too static on offense and we had to just freelance and see what options we had rather than get stuck running predictable plays," explained quad-captain attacker Alyssa Briody '07.
Scoring for Amherst was quad-captain midfielder Rachel Lewis '07, junior attacker Maddie Hoeg, Briody, Dudley and Craig. In addition, sophomore midfielder Mary Noonan tallied two goals and added an assist. Briody, Amherst's leading points scorer in 2006, had a game-high five points as she also assisted on four goals. "It's always fun to score, but the best part of getting a goal is being part of a team effort," said Craig. "Today wasn't about individual play, but instead about working together throughout the field. Especially for our game today, it took us a while to score, so when we were finally able to put the pieces together it felt really good."
A big part of the team effort was the defense. Noonan led the Jeffs with four of Amherst's 22 ground balls, while quad-captain defender Maggie Roth '07 forced five of Amherst's 18 caused turnovers. McEvoy made eight saves in the win. "I think a consistent factor to each half was our defense across the entire field, both in the offensive and defensive ends," said Noonan.
In all, the entire experience was a good one for Amherst. The Jeffs dug themselves out of a hole, put forth a solid team effort, had some fun and got a win. Now Amherst is at the top of the NESCAC standings and is halfway to the Little Three title. The game was also good preparation for the Jeffs' Spring Break trip to Colorado. Amherst will face some elite Div. III teams when they play Salisbury University and Colorado College on March 19 and 21, respectively, with both games on Colorado College's campus. "It was great to get our first-game jitters out before we face Salisbury and then Colorado, games where we can't afford to have a slow start," said Briody.
Game-tested Amherst will focus on those contests this week. "It was really nice to get a game under our belts before we play in Colorado," said Craig, who is from Denver, Co. "We now know what adjustments need to be made on the field and are prepared to translate the successful parts of our game [on Sunday] to our games out West!"
The Jeffs' busy Spring Break schedule will conclude with a NESCAC match-up at Bates College on March 24.
NESCAC Notes
In other early-season NESCAC action, Bowdoin College, the number two squad in insidelacrosse.com's preseason poll, beat Connecticut College 18-8. After opening the 2006 season with 11 straight wins-a streak halted by Amherst-Colby College claimed the third rank in the preseason poll. However, the White Mules dropped their first game of 2007 to unranked NESCAC opponent Trinity College.