After an outstanding 2016-17 season that saw the Mammoths place ninth overall at the Division III National Championships, Amherst women’s golf is poised for continued success after losing only one senior, returning four of the five golfers that competed in May.
Further helping the Mammoths’ cause is the return of head coach Elizabeth Davis, who in her first season leading the program last year garnered East Region Coach of the Year honors from the WGCA.
Niyi Odewade is a standout on the gridiron, a brilliant scientist poised to excel in medical school and a leader in all of his endeavors at Amherst. Through his excellence in multiple fields and the charisma he conveys in his interactions with everyone he meets, Odewade has used his passion for medicine and his football career to leave an impact on the Amherst community beyond wins and admission to medical school.
New Schools, New Challenges
Although the 2016 season failed to bring another national title to Coach Justin Serpone’s squad, the Amherst men’s soccer team still dominated NESCAC competition, taking home both the regular season and tournament crowns and making it to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Championship. Returning much of last year’s core, Amherst demonstrated their potential from the start of the season, going undefeated through the month of September, with the one blemish on the team’s record a dramatic 1-1 double-overtime draw at Middlebury.
After a strong fall season that saw the team collect a bevy of top-three finishes, the Amherst women’s golf team returned to action this weekend at the Vassar Invitational. Shooting 642 as a team at the two-day tournament, the Mammoths placed third overall finishing behind only archrival Williams and New York University.
Following a dominant sweep of Hamilton to open conference play, the Amherst women’s softball team continued its recent run of good form, sweeping a doubleheader against the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts on Wednesday and then taking all three games in this past weekend’s series against Middlebury.
Against MCLA, the Mammoths faced little competition in either affair, prevailing 9-0 in the first matchup, followed by a dominant 8-1 win in the second game.
After suffering a heart breaking 4-3 defeat to Division I member Harvard, the Amherst men’s tennis team rebounded well, claiming a 5-4 victory over 19th-ranked Tufts to open NESCAC play on Saturday.
The No. 14 Mammoths roared out of the gates, dominating the hometown Jumbos on the first and third doubles courts. The number one pairing of Jayson Fung ’20 and Zach Bessette ’19 comfortably took care of their Tufts opponents, notching an 8-3 victory, a scoreline matched by the first-year duo of Josh Marchalik and Nathan Kaplan on court three.
The Amherst men’s lacrosse team suffered its first losses of the season over the past week, falling first to Bates and then splitting a pair of games at the Mustang Classic in Maryland.
