AMHERST, Mass. - Junior Amherst College midfielder Marcy Busch (Scarsdale, NY) scored a pair of first-half goals, and the Jeff defense clamped down in the second half, leading host Amherst to a 2-0 win over visiting Mount Holyoke College on Thursday.
Busch got the Jeffs on the board early, converting a perfect feed from senior Co-captain Gretchen Bowe (Hampstead, NH) from the top of the circle, beating Lyon goalkeeper Elizabeth Wishart from the left wing.
The goal, which came 5:31 into the opening period, began a 15-minute span during which the hosts dominated posession, pinning Mount Holyoke deep within their own defensive end. Bowe, Co-captain Mairin Brady (Bethesda, MD) and junior Robin Ackerman (Princeton, NJ) shut down the Lyon offense from the midfield.
The Jeffs' offensive pressure paid off 13 minutes after Busch's first goal, when the junior struck again, following her own shot off a penalty corner with a low blast to the right post, giving the Jeffs a two-goal margin.
From there, the game turned into a back-and-forth midfield battle, with the Lyons using stellar passing to keep the Jeffs from settling in on offense.
After halftime, Mount Holyoke had much of the better part of play as the Amherst offense stagnated, but the Jeff defensive quartet of juniors Anne Close (Limekiln, PA) and Laurie Smith (Wilmington, DE) and sophomores Kristin Harrison (Dedham, MA) and Molly O'Connor (Baltimore, MD) played another stellar game in front of junior goalie Beth Sensing (Hockessin, DE), who was only called on to make five saves for the game, en route to her third shutout of the season.
Midway through their regular season, the Jeffs, ranked fourth in the nation in the latest IWLCA poll, stand a perfect 7-0, matching their best-ever start. Standing in the way of a new record is the Bowdoin College Polar Bears, who host the Jeffs on Saturday morning in Brunswick, ME.
Mount Holyoke fell to 5-3 with the loss.
| Amherst (7-0) |
2 |
0 |
-- |
2 |
| Mt. Holyoke (5-3) |
0 |
0 |
-- |
0 |
Scoring:
A -- Marcy Busch '02 (Mairin Brady '02), 29:29 (1st);
A -- Busch (unassisted), 16:45 (1st);
Shots:
A -- 18, MHC -- 16
Saves:
A (Beth Sensing '02, 70 min., 0 ga) -- 5;
M (Elizabeth Wishart, 70 min., 2 ga) -- 9
Penalty Corners:
A -- 7, MHC -- 4 |
