With two tough games at NESCAC rival Trinity this past weekend, the Amherst women’s hockey team moved to 15-3-4. Coming off a successful campaign against Williams last week, where Jeffs goalie Yuna Evans ’17 was named NESCAC Player of the Week, the Jeffs faltered slightly this weekend with a 1-1 tie and 5-2 loss at Trinity College.

The loss on Sunday represents only the second loss in conference play for the Jeffs and did not affect their second place position in the NESCAC standings. In the national rankings, Amherst ranked No. 6 in the country according to D3hockey.com and No. 9 in the USCHO.com coaches’ poll. As the NESCAC postseason play quickly approaches, every win in conference counts.

“Although Trinity isn’t as big of a rival as Middlebury, every NESCAC game is huge,” said Emily Flom ’15, who had an assist and goal in the Sunday loss against Trinity. “The competition between NESCAC schools has been outstanding and regardless of the rankings, every team has the skill to beat any team at any day. We cannot afford to take any team lightly, so we prepared for Trinity as we would any other team.”

Preparation was key in the hard-fought battle on Saturday against the Bantams. The first period was an all-out brawl with both teams firing hard on the opponent’s nets. Trinity edged Amherst in shots 10-9 in the opening period. The Jeffs had early opportunities to score with two power plays in the first period, but the Bantam defense remained difficult to surpass. With only 41 seconds left in the first period, Trinity got on the board with a shot by Cheeky Herr. The first period ended with the Jeffs down 1-0, a rare position for the talented team.

Opening up the second period, the Jeffs had an early scoring chance on a man-up situation. Talented first-year Alex Toupal scored her seventh career goal midway through the penalty. Lynndy Smith ’17 fed her the puck to even the score.

“Our underclassmen are really stepping up and playing great and have been instrumental in our success so far,” Flom said.
Amherst had two other power plays during the second period, but were unable to convert another score. The 1-1 tie continued throughout the third period. The Bantams really put on the pressure during the third, holding an 11-8 shot advantage over Amherst. Evans lived up to her NESCAC Player of the Week Performance from last week making 11 saves in the third period to keep the score even. The game went into overtime, but neither team was able to score.

On Sunday, the Jeffs returned to Trinity’s ice for a rematch. The Jeffs had a strong first period with 12 shots on goal and Sabrina Dobbins ’18 making nine saves in goal. Flom scored the first goal of the game off of an assist from Brenna Sullivan ’18 barely four minutes into the game. Trinity answered less than two minutes later, as Lauren Fitzgerald was able to sneak the puck past Dobbins. The tie remained for most of the period, but Trinity’s Lucy Robinson broke through to give the Bantams a 2-1 lead. The second period was all Bantams as Shannon Farrell scored twice to make the score 4-1. Dobbins was replaced by Evans midway through the second quarter. Amherst opened up the third period with a goal by Sullivan, assisted by Flom and Erin Martin ’16. With the score 4-2, Amherst continued to put the pressure on the Trinity defense, but without much success. The final score of the game was 5-2 as Trinity scored in the last minute of the game on an open net.

“It was Trinity’s senior night so they were playing with a lot of emotion and were very physical,” Flom said. “In the end, they simply were able to make the plays to score and win the game.”

The Jeffs will hope to brush off the loss to Trinity for the final weekend of their regular season. The Jeffs host Bowdoin at Orr Rink this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m.

The final two games against Bowdoin will help determine the home-ice advantage for the competitive NESCAC tournament, which begins Feb. 28.