The women’s hockey team hosted the NESCAC tournament this weekend, welcoming Connecticut College, Middlebury College and Colby College to Orr Rink. Amherst, who earned the NESCAC regular season title for the first time in program history with a 16-0-0 record, also hosted the tournament for the first time ever.
The first round was a rematch between the Jeffs and Camels. The last time they faced each other, Amherst won a squeaker, 1-0. This time proved to be a different story with the first purple-and-white goal coming on an Emily Vitale ’11 breakaway. Her one-timer, which wove its way between a defender, the goalie and a post, opened the floodgates. It was all Amherst for the rest of the afternoon. Later that period, sophomore Megan Curry dove into the Conn. College crease to bury a rebound created by Courtney Hanlon ’11 and Vitale.
Apparently deciding that three points in four periods of post-season play wasn’t enough for her, Hanlon put on a show during the second period. Wasting only 21 seconds, she nailed goalkeeper Sara Christopher’s water bottle with a chip-shot from the goal line. She proceeded to ruin Christopher’s day even further at 11:48 in the period when she buried the rebound from a Randi “Purple People Eater” Zukas slapshot. Still not satisfied, Hanlon lit the lamp for a third time that period. Hanlon’s natural hat trick was particularly impressive because it occurred in less than 20 minutes and in the playoffs. The sophomore was recently named to the NESCAC all-conference team.
Tarasai Karega ’09 rounded out the scoring in the third period, making the final score 6-1 (Conn. College managed to sneak a power play goal during the second period). Eminent hockey expert and College Postmaster Don Kells described the game as being “like taking candy from a baby.” Player of the year and NESCAC all-conference goalie Krystyn Elek ’10 made 33 saves for the Jeffs, filling Coach of the Year Jim Plumer with joy.
Meanwhile, Middlebury unsurprisingly defeated Colby 4-2 to advance to the finals, avoiding the upset that knocked them out last year.
The championship game was an epic match-up between the top two seeds in the tournament. Middlebury played one of their best games of the season, featuring a deadly power play, excellent defense and a strong forecheck. Amherst fell behind early, letting up two goals in the first 15 minutes. Kirsten Dier ’10 responded soon afterwards by poking the puck past the Panthers’ goalie after a long scuffle in front of the net. The two titans traded power play goals in a second period in which Midd goalie Alexi Bloom had to come up with 20 saves to preserve her team’s lead.
Michelle McGann ’10 evened the game up at 8:50 in the third via Lindsay Harrington ’09 and Julia Koch ’11. Amherst continued to dominate in shots on goal that period (12-3) as they did for the entire game (55-24) but failed to take the lead. The game proceeded to overtime, reminiscent of the last time these teams faced each other in the final two years ago, a game Amherst won in the third overtime period. This year, however, the Jeffs were robbed of ultimate victory when one of the Panthers’ star forwards, Anna McNally scored on an unassisted breakaway goal at 8:34.
To Sunday’s deception was quickly added angst about the Lord Jeff’s eligibility to participate in the NCAA tournament. Only seven Div. III women’s hockey teams make the cut, four of them automatically qualifying for winning their conference (ECAC East, ECAC West, MIAC or NESCAC). The three remaining bids (one for conferences without automatic qualifiers, two for conferences with) are subject to a vote from a NCAA selection committee.
Because Middlebury won the NESCAC (and therefore clinched the NESCAC auto-bid), Amherst was left to compete for one of the two spots remaining in the tournament. Criteria for selection are many and varied, and include win-loss percentage, strength of schedule, head to head results and other factors.
The bracket that would determine whether Amherst’s season and the seniors’ college hockey careers were over was revealed Monday morning. Amherst not only earned the right to participate in the tournament, but will also get to host their quarterfinal game on Saturday against Plattsburgh State University. The Final Four will be hosted at Middlebury the following weekend. Middlebury was awarded a bye, and will face the winner of Amherst vs. Plattsburgh on March 20. The two other quarterfinals will be Wisconsin-River Falls at Gustavus Adolphus and Norwich at Elmira.