Women's Hockey Tops Wesleyan Twice
Issue   |   Tue, 12/04/2012 - 22:44
Chloe McKenzie '14
The Lady Jeffs had a rough start to the season, but they have since topped Wesleyan in two straight contests and will face Trinity Wednesday.

The Lady Jeffs may have had a rough start to the season, but they have quickly righted the ship with back-to-back wins over NESCAC rival Wesleyan.

The Amherst squad hosted the Cardinals for two games over the weekend of Nov. 30 - Dec. 1 and took both of them, improving to 3-3 on the season. On Friday, it was a multi-faceted attack that carried the Jeffs: six different players were involved in the scoring as the Jeffs edged their opponent by a 2-1 margin.

The Jeffs struck first in the 18th minute as Hayley Opperman ’14 found senior co-captain Megan Doyen from just behind the blue line for a close-range finish, her second goal of the year. With 9:20 remaining in the second period, the Jeffs went on the offensive again. This time, co-captain Geneva Lloyd ’13 found the back of the net on mid-range wrist shot; Kaitlyn McInnis ’13 got credit for the assist.

Ultimately, that would be all the Jeffs would need on the evening, as their defense, which had struggled in the previous few contests, managed to limit the number of clean looks for the Cardinals. Wesleyan did score once with 5:52 remaining in the final frame, but they would get no more; goaltender Kerri Stuart ’14 did her part by making three saves in the final 10 minutes. The story of the game for the Lady Jeffs was control of possession as the Amherst squad outshot the Cardinals by a hefty 32-13 margin. Tori Salmon ’15 also performed admirably, winning 15 out of the 17 faceoffs that she took.

In the second game of the double-header the following afternoon, all the Jeffs’ scoring came in rapid-fire fashion. After neither team scored in the first period, the Amherst squad managed three goals within three minutes of each other in the second period. First, taking advantage of two Wesleyan penalties, Lloyd beat the Wesleyan goaltender with a midrange shot. Then, just 14 seconds later, with the Lady Jeffs still up one skater, Opperman deflected a Doyen shot into the back of the net to put the Amherst squad up 2-0. Finally, Erin Martin ’16 scored at close range off an assist from Avery Stone ’14. From that point on, although Wesleyan did get on the board halfway through the third period, the game was essentially over. With a 3-1 victory, the Lady Jeffs completed the sweep.

The Jeffs’ success against the Cardinals was nothing new. The Cardinals’ two goals over the weekend were actually their first against Amherst since 2006, and they are now winless in the last 19 meetings of the two teams.
The Jeffs may have put themselves back in the win column, but their work has only just begun. They will get another crack at the ice on Wednesday when they host NESCAC rival Trinity. This weekend (Dec. 8-9), they will face a pair of non-league road tests at Oswego and Utica.