The Jeffs are in their customary position for the first week in May. They are preparing for a trip to Middlebury College for the seventh time in seven years to compete in the NESCAC semifinals. They have advanced to the finals and placed second to Middlebury six of those times. Amherst also has a tradition of making long runs in the Div. III National Tournament. The women's lacrosse team is no stranger to postseason success, and now that it is playoff time, the Jeffs are ready for another exciting month of lacrosse.
They had a bit of trouble getting here, though. While the women's lacrosse team's last six NESCAC Tournament appearances have capped regular season campaigns of two or fewer losses, the Jeffs entered the 2007 postseason with five marks in the loss column. The last time Amherst lost five games in a season was in 1996. Three of the blemishes this year were the final three games of the regular season.
After dropping conference games at lower-ranked Bowdoin College and Tufts University, one game remained for Amherst. As a result of NESCAC teams beating up on each other, the Jeffs entered their regular season finale against Colby College ranked second in the conference. A win against the White Mules would have given the Jeffs the second seed in the NESCAC Tournamet: the postion they had claimed in each of the six years of the NESCAC Tournament history.
"We were pretty pumped to play Colby," said quad-captain defender Maggie Roth '07. "We had been working really hard at practice and knew that we had to pull it together in order to win."
However, Colby also brought its "A" game, and was able to upset the nationally ninth-ranked Amherst team. The Mules jumped out to an early 3-0 lead and added a fourth goal at 18:28. Amherst responded with goals by quad-captain midfielder Lauren Dudley '07 and attacker Maddie Hoeg '08, and a pair of tallies by attacker Amy Craig '09, allowing the Jeffs to tie the game 4-4 by halftime.
Amherst's momentum was halted in the second frame, though, as Colby opened the period with three goals again. The deficit was too much to overcome. Amherst found the back of the net just twice in the second half, while Colby connected seven times. The final score was 11-6.
"The game plan heading into Colby was to walk away from the game proud of the way we played," said Hoeg. "Although we lost, we were much happier with our play than we were with our [previous] two losses."
The game was actually closer than the final score implies. "We were tied at half time, and if we hadn't had a slip in the start of the second half where they scored a few, we would have been right there with them," said goalie Linda McEvoy '08. "In terms of stats we were also right there with shots, ground balls, etc."
Although the result of the game was another loss, the Jeffs seemed to be rejuvenated by their elevated play and the prospect of the playoffs. With the loss, the Jeffs fell from second in the conference to sixth, but were eager for the chance to redeem their mediocre (by Amherst standards) season.
As the sixth seed, Amherst had to travel to third seed Wesleyan University for the NESCAC quarterfinals the next day.
"We mentally went into [the] Wesleyan [game] with the attitude that we had nothing to lose," said Hoeg. "We put our hearts and bodies on the line and played, finally, the game of lacrosse." That translated into a much-needed win.
The game was tied at 2-2 10 minutes into the contest, but Amherst scored the next six goals. The Jeffs were relentless, tacking on five of the final eight goals of the game. In the end, Amherst won in a blowout, 13-5.
Pacing the Jeffs was leading goal-scorer Craig, who tallied four goals to bring her season total to 49. Hoeg also contributed four scores. Quad-captain attacker Alyssa Briody '07 showed why she leads the team in points, amassing a game-high five points on five assists. Sophomore midfielder Mary Noonan had four points with a pair of goals and a pair of assists. Fellow midfielder Liz Wise '07 contributed two goals while Dudley recorded a goal and an assist.
"We've had an up-and-down season in terms of our emotions and record, but we turned a corner on Sunday and claimed it as a 'new season,'" said McEvoy. "We played with a clean slate."
The Jeffs like the direction this new season is heading, and plan to make the most of their second chance.
They won't have to wait long to seek revenge. On Saturday Amherst will play Colby in the NESCAC semifinals at Middlebury.
"We are ready to avenge our loss," said Hoeg. "Colby will not know what hit them."
NESCAC Notes
Williams snapped a five-game losing streak that began with a humiliating 13-6 loss to Amherst. The Ephs turned it around with a 14-13 overtime upset over Trinity College in the NESCAC quarterfinals, and will face Middlebury in the other semifinal game. Meanwhile, second-seeded Trinity ended a spectacular 11-4 season.