Amherst, Mass. – Williams (7-2/2-2 NESCAC) ranked ninth in the NFHCA national poll defeated host Amherst (7-1/3-1 NESCAC) ranked sixth nationally 3-2 to claim the 2021 Little Three title and give the Mammoths their first loss of the season.
The Ephs scored the first two goals of the game and were never equaled. With 12:55 left in the second quarter, a penalty corner allowed the Ephs' Liz Welch to receive the inbound from
Emily Batchelor. Welch shot immediately but the shot was blocked by Muffie Mazambani of Amherst.
Mazambani fell out of the play momentarily, leaving Welch with space to move in for another shot, this time the shot was deflected to
Shea van den Broek, who couldn't push it past Sophia Kaplan. The ball then rolled over in front of Welch, who scooped it around the defense, bouncing off of Kate Smith's stick and into the goal.
Six minutes later Williams added to their lead, using another corner to disorient the Mammoths defense.
Catherine Torres forced the penalty, then
Liz Scarcella took the inbound, flicked the ball across the circle to Welch, who used a nifty touch pass to leave the defense off balance and indecisive, giving Torres the room to wind up and fire a shot into the right corner of the goal.
Amherst came out of halftime aggressive and Kat Mason took a shot from the left side, which was saved, only to rebound to Abbey Kays, who shot past Eph goalie
Gates Tenerowicz Amherst's first goal. Williams showed their determination when they charged back to the other side of the field, forcing a corner.
Williams scored off of an inbound pass from Batchelor to Torres, who shot it diagonally in the direction of van den Broek who got a piece of the shot and redirected into the left side of the net. The van den Broek goal came just 22 seconds after the first Amherst goal.
The score of 3-1 held until Sam Maynard gave Amherst their last breath, scoring her 8
th goal of the season with 1:09 left to play in the game.
Carson Stephenson started in goal and played the first half for the Ephs. She stopped two shots and did not allow a goal.
Gates Tenerowicz played in goal for the Ephs in the second half and she recorded one save and allowed two goals.
Kaitlin Broda played the first 36:14 in goal for Amherst registering 4 saves and allowing 3 goals. Sara Nidus played the final 23:46 for the Mammoths and she was not called on to make a save and did not allow a goal.
Eph head coach
Alix Barrale commented, "I'm just so proud of our effort today and our ability to get corners and then finish in the circle. We wanted to play with focus, control the game, and then finish in the circle and we did all three. We talk a lot about embracing pressure and we did that in the second half when Amherst was pressuring us."
Next up for the Ephs is another NESCAC road contest tomorrow at Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut where they will tangle with the host Camels starting at 1:00 PM.
