The field hockey team's 2007 run came to a close this weekend, as Amherst fell to rival Williams College in its final regular season match and again the next day in the first round of the NESCAC Tournament.
The Jeffs were coming off their biggest win of the year entering the weekend, having buried the Camels of Connecticut College 7-2 last Tuesday. It appeared that the Jeffs, after a season in which they struggled to capitalize on opportunities, had finally found their offensive stride and were ready to prove that their reputation as the best passing team in the NESCAC would pay some well-earned dividends. They would need it heading west, braving the hairpin turn and rolling into Williamstown, Mass., to face an Eph squad whose last memory of the Jeffs was last year's NESCAC quarterfinal, when Amherst emerged victorious despite losing 5-1 to that same Williams team the day before.
The Ephs wasted no time making their intentions clear. In the first half alone, they garnered 12 penalty corners and uncorked an almost unheard-of 19 shots, 14 of which appeared on their way to the back of the net. But tri-captain goalie Kathleen Boucher '08, in one of her best outings of a season that included many heroic performances, denied a dozen. At the half, the Jeffs faced a two-goal deficit.
Amherst came out of the halftime gates with renewed zeal, but the Ephs were there to match it. Despite outshooting the Ephs in the second half, Amherst could not register a goal by the game's end, and the addition of another Williams goal in the waning minutes of the match finalized the score at 3-0 in favor of the Ephs.
So the Jeffs, ranked fifth in the NESCAC Tournament, made the return trip to Williamstown the next day in a scene eerily similar to that of last year, in which the Jeffs, after dropping an embarrassing 5-1 decision to the Ephs, came back to thwart Williams' playoff hopes with a 1-0 win. In the 2007 rematch, the Ephs' high-powered offense failed to put away the Jeffs for the better part of the first half. Though Williams' shot total stood at a mere six after the first stanza, the Ephs managed to tuck one away with a meager 2:30 left in the frame, sending the game into halftime with a score of 1-0 in favor of the hosts.
The second half began similarly to the first, as neither team proved able to coordinate an early strike. But patience paid off for the Ephs and, with 10 minutes remaining in the game, they made a statement with another goal off a penalty corner. With just under seven minutes remaining in the bout, Williams scored again. Only a minute later, defender Catherine Calvert '09 made a mark on the scoreboard for the Jeffs, bringing the score to its final resting place at 3-1 in favor of Williams.
The Jeffs' final record of 8-7 hardly does justice to the bursts of greatness the Jeffs showed at times this season. In a lineup that featured a core of young talent, the Jeffs seemed to be one of the most formidable teams in the league, with their only multi-goal losses of the year coming at the hand of Williams. "Our overall record certainly seems to be an understatement of what we have accomplished: the beginning of a new era for Amherst field hockey," professed senior tri-captain defender Lauren Benson. "We had a winning season for the first time in four years. We proved that we can be competitive in every game on our schedule, even against the top-ranked team in the country. While we didn't take in any hardware, we accomplished something that will benefit the program for many years-Amherst field hockey has come to expect success. So, the end of this season seems abrupt, however I can't help but get excited thinking about the future of this team. Believe me, that hardware is not too far away."
In a number of the games, including matches against nationally ranked Bowdoin and Middlebury Colleges, one shot a couple of inches to the right or left could have made a difference in the outcome. The heart of this team is not accurately described by its 8-7 record; next season, Amherst will still have the heart that got it this far.