Box Score
AMHERST, MA – The Williams College women's ice hockey team took on archrival and 7th ranked Amherst Lord Jeffs for the second night in a row and skated away with their second loss on the weekend, falling by a score of 7-3. Despite the loss, Williams secured a spot in the NESCAC playoffs thanks to Wesleyan's 5-1 loss to Colby.
Amherst got on the board first scoring at the 13:19 mark of the first as Geneva Lloyd wristed a shot off the post and into the back of the net, beating Williams goaltender Rachel Nguyen. The Amherst lead would not last long as Williams added a goal of their own a mere 31 seconds later when Kristen Tubbs backhanded a shot past Caroline Hu for the unassisted tally. Amherst would regain the lead in the final minute of the period on Ashley Salerno's goal.
Trailing 2-1 entering the second period, the Ephs were determined to hang with the Lord Jeffs. Amherst would score the first two goals of the period on tallies by Courtney Hanlon and Meagan Curry. Now trailing 4-1, Williams began to claw their way back into the game. With 7:51 to play in the period Christa Bravi brought the Ephs within two on a goal assisted by Hannah Systrom. Nicolle Perry would add another marker for the Ephs with 5:54 to play in the second frame. Sarah Herr was credited with the assist on the Perry goal.
Penalties would doom the Ephs in the third period. After trailing by just a goal entering the final stanza, the Lord Jeffs would capitalize on the power play at the 9:20 mark of the third on Lloyd's second goal of the evening. Still on the power play, Stephanie Clegg would add Amherst's 6th goal of the afternoon 83 seconds after the Lloyd score increasing the Lord Jeff lead to 6-3. Braidie Campbell would add the last goal in the final 2 minutes solidifying Amherst's 7-3 victory.
Despite the loss, Coach Lye was very pleased with her squad's effort, "I thought we did a great job forechecking and we really played well in the offensive end. Hannah Systrom played a great game for us and I was very pleased with the efforts of Ally Ensor and Rachel Nguyen on the defensive end". She went on to say, "Had it not been for a few untimely penalties this game could have gone our way. They were able to capitalize on 3 power plays, two of which were 5 on 3 opportunities".
Rachel Nguyen finished with 40 save between the pipes for the Ephs. Hu turned aside 14 Ephs shots leading her team to victory.
The loss drops the Eph's record to 4-13-1, while Amherst improves to 15-5-2. Williams will play their final regular season home game on Tuesday against UMass Boston before traveling to Maine next weekend to take on Bowdoin and Colby. Tuesday's game is scheduled to get underway at 7 P.M.
