The women’s hockey team worked hard over Thanksgiving Break to earn their turkey dinners. The Jeffs strung together three impressive wins in a row to remain undefeated with five wins. The Jeffs opened up their Thanksgiving break with two matchups against NESCAC foe Wesleyan. Amherst downed the Cardinals 4-1 on Friday and 4-3 in overtime on Saturday. A week later, the Jeffs traveled to SUNY Cortland to face the Red Dragons. The Jeffs won definitively in that matchup with a score of 9-1. First-year Brenna Sullivan factored into the first win against Wesleyan, notching two goals. However, senior captain Tori Salmon had a fantastic week in all three games, earning her NESCAC Player of the Week honors.

Hosting Wesleyan at home on Friday night, the Jeffs and Cardinals remained scoreless throughout the first period. Breaking the tie was Sullivan who found the back of the net 18 seconds into the second period. Four minutes later, Salmon added to the tally on a power play with assists from Erin Martin ’16 and Lynndy Smith ’17. The second period ended with Jeffs carrying a 2-0 lead. In the third period, the Cardinals looked to threaten the Jeffs’ lead, scoring about four minutes into the period. However, the Jeffs were not done yet. First-year Emma Greise notched her first goal as a Jeff six minutes into the third period. Camille Herzog ’17 and Sullivan assisted on the goal. Sullivan scored again with less than a minute left in the game when the Cardinals emptied their net.

The Jeffs faced the Cardinals again on Saturday afternoon on Orr Rink. Salmon notched her second goal of the weekend midway through the first period. Salmon was assisted by Smith and first-year Alex Toupal. The Jeffs struck again in the first period, this time by Toupal and assisted by Salmon. Wesleyan cut the two goal Amherst lead off of a power play, as Jordan Schildhaus scored for the Cardinals with only a few minutes left in the first period. Senior captain Madeline Tank found the back of the net towards the end of the exciting first period. The first period ended with a 3-1 advantage for the Jeffs. The second period featured much less scoring, as the Jeffs were unable to convert on two power plays. Wesleyan scored in the second period, narrowing the score to 3-2. Wesleyan opened up the third period strong, scoring to tie the game in the first four minutes. It looked as if Wesleyan might take the lead at the end of the period, as they had a power play towards the end of regulation. However, the Amherst defense, led by goalie Yuna Evans ’17, remained strong. Moving into sudden death overtime, Amherst knew it needed a goal more than ever. Salmon and Martin set up Smith on a power play two minutes into overtime to secure the Jeffs a win. The Jeffs now had a 4-0 record in NESCAC play.

After a few days off for Thanksgiving break, the Jeffs traveled North to SUNY Cortland to face the Red Dragons. Salmon emerged as the star of the game with three goals and three assists. Her first assist occurred on the opening goal of the game scored by Smith. The first period overall was slow and the Jeffs emerged with a slim 1-0 lead. The second period was more successful for the Jeffs as Eileen Harris ’16, Tank, Toupal and Salmon found the back of the net. Josie Fletcher of SUNY Cortland also scored in this period, making the score 5-1. The Jeffs put up another four goals in the third period to take a commanding 9-1 victory. Salmon scored twice, Tank added a tally and Emily Flom ’15 scored as well. First-year Sabrina Dobbins saved 15 shots in her second game in goal for the Jeffs.

Salmon’s impressive week earned her NESCAC Player of the Week honors. She now leads the Jeffs with 11 points on the season and scored a goal in each of the victories for Amherst this week. Her leadership will remain important as the Jeffs face a difficult stretch of out-of conference games this weekend. On Friday, the Jeffs travel to No. 3-ranked Norwich who has a record of 6-1-1 this season. They will return to Amherst on Saturday to face Manhattanville who has a record of 3-3-2 this season. The game will be played at Orr Rink at 7 p.m.