The Amherst field hockey team faced a challenging slate of opponents last week, competing against two NESCAC rivals. On Oct. 25, Amherst faced off against Trinity in an away game, from which the hosts emerged victorious, defeating Amherst 4-0.

However, the final score did not reflect how close the game actually was.

Amherst had totaled 19 shots while Trinity had only 17, and Trinity had 13 shots on goal to the Mammoths’ 11.
Elizabeth Turnbull ’18 led the Mammoths with five attempts on goal, while Kendall Codey ’19 notching four attempts. Amherst also had 13 penalty corners to Trinity’s five. While the Mammoths created plenty of scoring opportunities, they were unable to get on the score board.

The Mammoths fell behind early, with the Bantams scoring in the opening minutes. Trinity would add one more goal right as the first half closed. In the second half, the Bantams scored two goals in five minutes, and put the game well and truly out of reach, despite offensive pressure by the Mammoths.

The game saw two goals by Kelcie Finn of Trinity College, who is the NESCAC’s leading scorer on the year with 23 goals and 53 points overall. For her performance against Amherst, Finn garnered her second consecutive conference player of the week nod.

The matchup with the Bantams was Amherst’s final regular season game, leaving the team with an overall record of 10-5 and a conference record of 5-5.

Thanks to a late season swoon, the Mammoths entered the NESCAC tournament as the sixth-seed.

This campaign was Amherst’s 16th consecutive year making an appearance in the NESCAC Championships.
In the first game of postseason action, Amherst faced off against third seed and archrival Williams. During the regular season, Amherst had defeated Williams in overtime by a final score of 3-2, so the Mammoths went into the game with a slight edge over the Ephs.

However, Williams entered the matchup ready to avenge their earlier loss to Amherst and managed to accomplish this goal, defeating the underdog Mammoths 4-2 in the quarterfinal matchup. This loss knocked Amherst out of NESCAC championship contention, while Williams remains alive in the hunt for the NESCAC crown.

In the game, Amherst took an early lead when Emery Sorvino ’19 scored off of an assist from Mary Grace Cronin ’18. Less than a minute later, Williams responded with a goal, evening the score. Williams then tallied three more goals in the first frame to give the hosts a commanding 4-1 lead heading into halftime.

In the second half, Codey nearly scored twice off of penalty corners, but one shot went wide and Williams managed to block the other. Amherst led Williams in penalty corners on the day, 10-7.

In the game’s final minutes, Sorvino scored her second goal of the game off of a rebound, bringing the score to 4-2, but Williams managed to hold off a late Amherst offensive flurry and essentially end the Mammoths’ season.

Amherst held the advantage in total shots (15-11), shots on goal (10-6) and penalty corners (10-7), but once again struggled to convert scoring opportunities into goals.

The Mammoths now await a potential at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, but the prospects of such a bid are low after the loss to the Ephs. Should Amherst’s season be over, the team will finish with a 10-6 overall record, a slight decline from last year’s 11-5 mark.