The Amherst women’s hockey team both defeated and tied Hamilton to move into third in the NESCAC this past weekend, now boasting a record of 13-5-4 overall and 8-3-3 in conference play. The two contests over the weekend saw the high-scoring Mammoths take on a stingy Continental defense.
Amherst, the most prolific in the conference, claimed victory in the weekend’s first contest against the Continentals in a commanding 4-1 victory.
Hamilton’s Olivia Hawes posted the first and only goal of the opening period, but 15 minutes into the second stanza Katie Savage ’19 capitalized on the rebound from a Kaitlin Hoang ’21 shot to knot the contest at one goal apiece.
While the rest of the second period remained scoreless, Amherst exploded in the third period with three goals to clinch the win. Sophomore forward Eliza Laycock tallied her third goal of the season on another redirected shot from Hoang, putting the Mammoths up 2-1.
Continuing her dominant performance, the phenom Hoang finally got her own name on the score-sheet, launching a pass from senior Brenna Sullivan into the back of the net. With just under two minutes left, Jamie McNamara ’19 put the final nail in the Continentals’ coffin, capitalizing on an empty net opportunity.
Returning to Orr Rink the next day, Hamilton attempted to exact some measure of vengeance against the Mammoths. However, Amherst scored first just 4:06 into the game. The Mammoths’ leading scorer Alex Toupal ’18 used her speed to crash into the offensive end and rifle a quick shot past the Hamilton goaltender. Emma Flynn ’21 and Laura Schmidlein ’19 were credited with the two assists on Toupal’s goal. However, Hamilton’s Hawes provided a quick answer on a man-up opportunity two minutes later, leveling the score at one apiece.
The second period was a defensive deadlock, with neither team able to finish their chances on net. In the third, Hamilton quickly grabbed their first lead of the contest at 2-1, but Toupal evened the game with a deadly accurate wrist shot off a pass from sophomore defender Anne Malloy to send the teams into overtime. Despite the back-and-forth action, neither team managed to emerge with the game-winning goal. Bailey Plaman ’18 posted 20 saves for the day, helping to anchor the stalwart Mammoths’ defense.
Amherst will conclude regular season play this weekend, first travelling to Wesleyan on Friday, Feb. 16 at 7 p.m., before returning home for the season’s final game against the Cardinals on Saturday, Feb. 17 at 3 p.m.
