The 11th-ranked Amherst women’s lacrosse team notched two wins this week to continue their undefeated start to their 2014 campaign.

On Wednesday, the Jeffs walked away with a 16-2 defeat of Babson College in their home opener on Gooding Field. Senior captain Krista Zsitvay led the Jeffs with five goals off of just six shots to bring her season total to a team leading nine goals.

“We got on a roll and never looked back. They are a good team, and we put them on their heels and it was hard for them to generate much attack,” Head Coach Chris Paradis said.

Alex Philie ’14 started things off for the Jeffs by scoring just 1:53 into the first half. Less a minute later, Zsitvay notched her first goal of the game off of a Heath Cockrell ’15 assist.

Continuing this trend, the Jeffs found themselves up 12-0 at halftime. Contributing to this lead were three from Zsitvay, another Philie tally and a goal apiece from Priscilla Tyler ’15, Caroline Holliday ’14, Mia Haughton ’16, Elizabeth Ludlow ’14, Rachel Passarelli ’16 and Devin O’Connor ’16.

In the second half, the Jeffs largely resorted to possession although they snuck a few more goals past the Babson goaltender. Coco Kusiak ’17 scored her first goal of her college career while Haughton, Passarelli and Zsitvay each added an additional tally to close out the game. Babson retaliated with two goals, but the victory remained a decisive one for the Jeffs. Amherst sophomore goalie Christy Forrest rounded out the game with two saves.

On Saturday, Amherst faced 12th-ranked Bowdoin in its second NESCAC matchup of the season. Zsitvay had another team leading performance with four goals.

In the first half, the Jeffs outshot the Polar Bears 11-2. Zsitvay opened up the scoring seven minutes into the game off a Meghan Mills ’15 assist. Holliday increased the Jeffs’ lead to 2-0 off an unassisted goal less than two minutes later. Bowdoin retaliated with a score of its own, but Tyler and Zsitvay added goals to give Amherst a 4-1 advantage going into halftime.
Philie gave the Jeffs a strong start to the second half by directing a pass from Ludlow into the lower right corner of the Bowdoin net. However, the Polar Bears regained some momentum, scoring twice before exchanging goals with Amherst to bring the score to 6-4. Paradis noted she was happy that the Jeffs were able to regain momentum and close out the game on a strong note despite this temporary shift.

Passarelli added a goal to the mix while Zsitvay and Philie capitalized on Bowdoin’s empty net to bring the final score to 9-4. The Jeffs held a 22-13 shot advantage and a 15-8 edge in groundballs. Forrest posted eight saves for the Jeffs in net.

“Many things are going well for us right now,” Paradis said. “We are causing turnovers all over the field and this is giving us more offense. On the attack, many different players are stepping up, and on defense, whatever we don’t stop as a unit, Christy Forrest is taking care of in goal.”

The Jeffs will return to action this Thursday, March 13 at 7 p.m. on the road against Springfield College, which will be a good non-conference test for the Jeffs.