The Amherst women’s field hockey team faced Endicott College on the road on Thursday, Sept. 22, and NESCAC rival Williams at home on Saturday Sept. 24, and won both matchups against the two respectable opponents.
The scoring started early when, off of an off-target shot from Caroline Fiore ’18, Mary Margaret Stoll ’17 found the back of the net to take the lead. Amherst would continue to hold the pressure in Endicott’s defensive third of the field as Mary Grace Cronin ’18 was able to find Kendall Codey ’19, who increased the purple and white’s goal count to two.
Sara Culhane ’17 got herself into the mix when she rebounded a shot block by Endicott’s Cheka Ventura later in the first half. Culhane, who continued relentlessly attacking towards Endicott’s net, scored her second goal of the match, giving Amherst a comfortable four-goal cushion at the end of the first half of play.
The second half featured much of the same Amherst intensity, during which the purple and white would break down their opponent’s defense and capitalize on three separate occasions.
To start the last 35 minutes off, Caroline Feeley ’18 scored off of a pass from Fiore to make the score 5-0. Katie Bergemesca ’18 found her mark and scored her first goal of the season with 17:15 remaining. To add to the list of first’s for this match-up, Heather Brennan ’20 scored her first goal of her collegiate career with just minutes remaining.
The purple and white took on Williams at 11:00 a.m. on Gooding field this past Saturday. Amherst beat Williams to the first goal of the match at the 11:22 mark, thanks to an assist by Stoll and a big finish by Culhane. After a scoreless 15 minutes in both directions, the Ephs finally responded to tie the score at one point apiece.
Shannon Tierney ’19 doubled Amherst’s score to two late in the first half. Tierney ran up the right flank and fired a shot from inside the circle, finding the upper left hand corner of Williams’ net. Until the very last seconds of the first half, the purple and white held Williams to one goal, but with 42 seconds remaining the Ephs put one past Horowitz, just out of reach.
The second half of the match up began with a tie score, two goals each. Williams gained the lead at the 49th minute, but not for long as Amherst’s Culhane fired back with her second goal of the match less than a minute later from Laura Schwartzman ’20 playing a ball towards the net after a run up the right side of the field.
The purple and white regained the lead after Stoll was able to find the back of the net from gaining possession of a bouncing ball in front of Williams’ cage. Culhane got her third for the day and final goal of the match with just over four minutes remaining to secure the win.
The purple and white continued their winning ways on Tuesday, when they downed Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2-1 in a hard-fought battle. Culhane continued her hot streak from the Williams victory, opening the scoring in the 54th minute. Less than six minutes later, Culhane doubled the Amherst lead with her second tally of the game. Although MIT managed a consolation goal in the 68th minute, the purple and white’s defense held strong, and the team pushed its winning streak to three games.
Amherst prepares to continue their hot streak as they face two big NESCAC opponents, Tufts and Bates, on the road and at home, respectively, this coming weekend.
