In the hunt for a prime playoff position, the field hockey team stayed hot on the trail, knocking out the Cardinals of Wesleyan University by a score of 2-1 and following up with a mid-week blowout of Connecticut College 7-2 last night.
After last year's 2-1 loss to the Jeffs, the Cardinals came out of the gates with guns ablaze, looking for revenge. Senior tri-captain goalie Kathleen Boucher and her core of defenders, including tri-captain Lauren Benson '08, Tierney Healey '10, Catherine Calvert '09 and Louise Stevenson '09, kept the Cardinals off the board for the first 10 minutes of the game, even in the face of a promising fast break. At one point, Healey dove along the endline picking up a defensive save. However, Wesleyan was awarded a penalty stroke on the play, and the Cardinals capitalized for the first goal of the game 10 minutes into the contest.
Refusing to cave under an early deficit, the Jeffs rallied back, taking the reins and dominating the ball for the remainder of the half. After a beautiful setup pass from midfielder Alyssa Dudzik '09 to forward Molly Malloy '10, Malloy passed to senior tri-captain forward Christa Porcaro, who danced through two defenders and punched the ball into the back of the net, knotting the score at one apiece.
Just under a minute later, Malloy tallied her 10th goal of the season off of a nifty touch pass from Calvert on a penalty corner. With 7:30 remaining in the first half, the Jeffs nearly scored with a crank by Calvert, and again seconds later, with a rocket from Malloy. By the game's end, the Jeffs had rattled off 13 shots and 15 penalty corners, topping the Cardinals' mere five shots and two penalty corners.
Halftime did little for the Cardinals, and the Jeffs continued to dominate possession in the second half. Despite a slew of opportunities by Porcaro, who pushed the ball out of the midfield and initiated numerous strikes, the Jeffs could not muster the dirt on the Cardinals' casket.
With 5:30 remaining in the game, Wesleyan, in one of its few possessions, put the ball in the net off of the rebound from a penalty corner. However, Head Coach Carol Knerr intervened, pointing out that the initial shot had hit one of the Wesleyan players in the stomach before the second shot found the back of the net. After a tense discussion with the referees, a call was made in favor of the Jeffs. This prompted a protest by the Wesleyan coach, and another animated conversation between both coaches and officials ensued. Nevertheless, the goal was called back, and the score stayed a 2-1 in favor of Amherst.
From that point forward, the Jeffs kept steady possession and emerged victorious. "I'm so proud we didn't give up when we went down 1-0," said Dudzik.
"I think it says a lot about our perseverance and heart … I give a lot of credit to Christa Porcaro. She had a great game on Saturday and created a lot of scoring opportunities."
Porcaro duplicated her effort last night, and the scoring opportunities she created translated into goals. The Jeffs came out like a team looking to make a mark in the conference, and bombarded Conn. with shots. Initially the Camel goalie was up to the task, making several brilliant saves to counteract the Jeffs' beautiful passing and shooting. However the Amherst offense eventually broke through with an unassisted goal by forward Haley Douds '10. From there, Porcaro and Malloy took over. In a scene that quickly became familiar, Porcaro muscled the ball down the right side of the field, and Malloy pounded it into the back of the cage. This combination occurred three times, and Porcaro picked up her fourth assist when Douds buried another of Porcaro's crosses. Malloy was very effective in front of the cage, scoring twice more off assists from Calvert and Douds. Malloy's five goals increased her team's lead to 15 while Porcaro leads the Jeffs with seven assists on the season. Douds' five-point game puts her in second place on the team with 17 points.
With the 7-2 win, Amherst secured a playoff berth. The top three spots are locked up by Bowdoin College-which has earned a bye in the first round of the NESCAC Tournament-and Middlebury College and Tufts University, which are tied for second place. The scrum for spots four through six is up in the air with Amherst, Trinity and Williams Colleges holding identical 4-4 conference records. With a win over Williams on Saturday, the Jeffs will claim the fourth spot (they beat Trinity head-to-head in the first game of the season) and will host a NESCAC quarterfinal game on Sunday.
"I have so much faith in this team," said midfielder Sarah Tracy '08. "It's very exciting to see what we can achieve when we play well. Now we want to keep up the momentum we've gained from our win on Saturday and finish the regular season with a pair of hard-earned Ws."