After an undefeated season in conference play and winning its second consecutive NESCAC Championship, the women’s ice hockey team entered the NCAA Div. III Tournament with the nation’s longest unbeaten streak of 17 games. Amherst earned the right to host an NCAA game for the first time in program history. Unfortunately, the fourth-seeded Jeffs ran into another hot team.
Fifth-seeded Elmira College made its intensity audibly apparent by singing loudly between periods and banging their sticks on the boards at nearly every stoppage in play. That energy was matched by both teams on the ice. Elmira made the most of Amherst’s time in the box, tallying two power-play goals and scoring another just three seconds after an Amherst penalty expired. The Jeffs also had their chance with the man-advantage. Three Elmira penalties in a row gave Amherst 4:50 of consecutive power-play time, including 55- and 15-second segments of 5-on-3 opportunities, but the Jeffs did not score. Amherst’s power play finally got on the board as rookie points-leader Courtney Hanlon’s goal gave the Jeffs some life with just 15 ticks left on the clock before the second intermission.
The Jeffs came out on fire in the third period, peppering the Soaring Eagles with eight shots while holding them to just two. Amherst was able to cut its deficit to one goal as Hanlon set up defenseman Julia Koch ’11 with 1:18 to play, but the final score remained 3-2.
After making it to the semifinals last year, Amherst’s first-round loss was an early exit for a team looking to go all the way. “It’s always disappointing to end the season so close to your dream of a National Championship when you know you have the talent and desire to win it,” said defenseman Kirsten Dier ’10. “Though we didn’t make it to the Final Four, we proved last season wasn’t a fluke. We’ll be back.”
Women’s Basketball:
The women’s basketball team ended their spectacular season losing to defending national champion DePauw University in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. The Jeffs competed closely with the Tigers throughout the game until DePauw pulled away to win by five. Despite the loss, the Jeffs achieved multiple outstanding accomplishments this season. Not only did the team improve its record from 12-13 last season to 27-3 this season, but they earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history and became the only team other than Bowdoin College to win the conference championship.
“I don’t think we’ve all quite realized how historical this season was for us,” said junior forward Yasmine Harik. “But setting all the records was fantastic mostly because we completely turned around the women’s basketball program and we set a new standard for all the teams to come. If this season is any indication, the future of Amherst women’s basketball looks bright!”
The team’s success included a number of individual accolades. Head Coach G.P. Gromacki was Northeast Coach of the Year while senior forward Stefanie Reiff was named to D3hoops.com All-Region Third Team.
Indoor Track:
In the recent Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships, the women’s indoor track team placed a solid 14th place and the men finishes at a respectable 16th. Two top runners from the women’s squad, senior Heather Wilson and junior Elise Tropiano, also competed in the NCAA Div. III Championships.
Amherst had 4-by-400-meter relay and distance medley relay teams qualify provisionally for the national championships, in addition to Peter Harrison ’11 provisionally qualified in the mile run. The Jeffs were ultimately edged out in these events, however, and did not receive bids to the meet.
Last year, Tropiano finished seventh and Wilson, eighth, in the 5,000-meter run. With a fast-paced start to the race, Wilson sped off to run near the early leaders while Tropiano bided her time in front of the second pack. They finished the last few laps running almost side by side, both reclaiming their seventh and eighth place finishes. Tropiano and Wilson earned All-American honors for the fifth consecutive time—a fitting end to the indoor track season.