“When we found out we got a bid, it was a race to see who could tell the other members of the team first. Everyone was so excited!” said senior tri-captain Haley Douds after the Husson match. “Getting to play at home just made the whole first round NCAA experience even better. We had a great crowd supporting us at the game.”
With almost back-to-back goals to start the match, the Jeffs’ offense set itself up for success. Sophomore forward Chrissy Cantore netted the first goal for the Jeffs at 12:55, assisted by defender Sarah McCarrick ’12. Less than a minute later, junior midfielder Carly Leahy gained possession of the ball after a scramble inside the strike zone and drove in a close-range shot to claim a second goal. With the Jeffs’ successful offense early on in the match, Husson could not gain momentum to create serious scoring opportunities in the second half.
The Eagles almost got onto the scoreboard around the 60-minute mark when Helen Berry took a shot from the top of the striking circle, but her shot went wide of the cage. Far from becoming intimated by the Eagles’ push to narrow the score gap, first-year forward Katie McMahon helped increase the Jeffs’ final tally to 3-0 with less than seven minutes until the final whistle. Assisted by senior tri-captain Molly Malloy, McMahon’s power shot overcame the Husson goaltender’s attempt to slow it down and tipped past the goal line.
Near the end of the match, defender Jenika Kelley scooped up a high shot to the inside post as the Eagles’ last effort to net a goal, but sophomore goalkeeper Emily Vitale also punched away the opponents’ hopes of avoiding a shutout. The Jeffs came away with a 3-0 victory and advanced to the second round of the tournament.
Despite hopes to take home the championship title, the Jeffs saw their NCAA run cut short with a loss to Skidmore College by a narrow margin. Saturday’s match was a fierce contest between two talented competitors. The Thoroughbreds broke the scoreless stalemate 22 minutes into the match, successfully playing a cross that turned into their first goal. McMahon, however, responded less than five minutes later to equalize the score and Malloy increased the stakes by giving Amherst a 2-1 lead, scoring off an assist from Cantore at 31:11. Remaining unfazed by the Jeffs’ impressive offense, Skidmore brought the score back to a tie at 2-2 before halftime and grabbed a 3-2 edge in the score early in the second half.
Stepping up to the pressure, McMahon recorded her second goal with an assist from Malloy for a 3-3 tie. Although time was running out on the clock, the Thoroughbreds still presented a dangerous threat by keeping the ball in the Amherst end of the turf. Brittany O’Brien of Skidmore scored the game-winner by picking up a rebound from a shot that Vitale had deflected.
With less than three minutes in the final half, Malloy took one last shot at the Skidmore cage but the opponent goalkeeper was in position to block the attempt. The match ended in a close 4-3 defeat, and the Jeffs concluded their 2009 season with an overall record of 12-5.