AMHERST, MA - The third-seeded Amherst College women's lacrosse team combined a stellar defensive effort with efficient offense to cruise to a 15-5 victory over visiting sixth-seeded Tufts University in a NESCAC Tournament Quarterfinal tilt on Sunday. Sophomore Alyssa Briody (Hopewell, NJ) led the Jeffs with six points on two goals and four assists, while sophomore Dana Kuper (Denver, CO) and senior Ashley Harmeling (N. Reading, MA) poured four and three goals, respectively.
With the victory, the Lord Jeffs (11-2, 9-2 NESCAC) advanced to next Saturday's NESCAC Tournament semifinals at 2:30 p.m. at top-seeded Middlebury College, where they will face No. 2 seed Bowdoin College, which upset Amherst with a 10-7 overtime victory in both team's regular-season finale. Tufts ended its season at 7-8.
The two squads traded goals over the first nine minutes of play en route to a 2-2 tie, but the Lord Jeffs scored eight of the game's next nine goals to break the game wide open. Briody began the landslide at the 20:20 mark with a free-position goal, and Kuper scored back-to-back tallies at 19:31 and 13:46 to give the Jeffs a 5-2 lead. Sophomore Lauren Dudley (Baltimore, MD) followed with her first score of the game at 13:16, and Briody netted her fourth point of the half with a goal at 10:23 to cap the 5-0 flurry.
After Tufts first-year Sarah Williams (Bethesda, MD) broke the string with an FPG at 9:45, Amherst notched back-to-back goals to end the half. Harmeling scored her second FPG of the game at 1:37 and senior Cate Smith (Saint James, MD) netted a buzzer-beating goal to put Amherst up 9-3 at the break.
Amherst continued its strong play after the break as Dudley notched her second tally of the game just 1:02 into the second half. Tufts showed some signs of life over the next seven minutes, scoring two of the next three goals to trim the deficit to 11-5 with 22:03 to play, but the Lord Jeffs used an impressive combination of stifling defense, strong goalkeeping and efficient ball control in the offensive end to shut out the Jumbos the rest of the way.
The Amherst defense kept the Tufts offense in check all afternoon, allowing just 12 shots to reach the goal, three of those coming on free-position attempts. Harmeling and junior Laura Brown (Bethesda, MD) led the Lord Jeffs with four caused turnovers apiece, while sophomore Emery Sweeney (Darien, CT) had an outstanding afternoon for the Amherst defense, leading the team with four ground balls and four draw controls. Senior Liv D'Ambrosio (Farmington, CT) was not called upon often in the contest, but still made eight saves, several of which came from point-blank range, in the victory. Amherst also did an outstanding job on the draw control, gaining possession on 14-of-19 draws.
Sophomore Liz Wise (Scarsdale, NY) scored twice for the Jeffs, while junior Caitie Parker (Bethesda, MD) added a goal and an assist in the contest. Kuper, Harmeling and Smith each dealt an assist as well. Senior Dana Panzer (Sayville, NY) played 47 minutes in net for the Jumbos, making seven saves, and sophomore Eva Elder (Mountain View, CA) spelled Panzer for the final 13 minutes, notching one save.
