AMHERST, MA - The fourth-ranked and second-seeded Amherst College women's hockey team defeated seventh-seeded Bowdoin College for the second straight season in the NESCAC tournament, 5-1, on Saturday afternoon. With the win, the defending NESCAC champions travel to Middlebury College where they will take on third-seeded Trinity College.
Bowdoin came out and pressured the Jeffs during the opening period, firing the games first four shots including a breakaway, but reigning NESCAC Tournament MVP Krysten Elek (Summerville, SC) kept the Polar Bears scoreless.
Bowdoin continued to out-chance the Jeffs and after a steal at center ice senior Katie Coyne (Madison, WI) and Julia King (Yarmouth, ME) skated in two-on-one. Coyne fired a shot from the right slot that Elek turned aside and a rebound chance by King was also denied. After the Jeffs killed off a Bowdoin power play, rookie forward Courtney Hanlon (Fullerton, CA) jumped out of the box and found herself on a two-on-none with junior forward Tarasai Karega (Detroit, MI). Hanlon slid the puck over to Karega who quickly touched it back to Hanlon who fired a wrist-shot into the open net for her 12th tally of the season.
Amherst upped the pressure but Bowdoin netminder Emileigh Mercer (Newton, MA) kept the Jeffs at bay finishing with 10 stops in the period while Elek stopped 16 Polar Bear attempts.
Bowdoin again came out and pressured Amherst early, and was rewarded 1:24 into the second period when rookie forward Bethany Croskey's (Bloomfield Hills, MI) backhand shot from just outside the crease slid underneath Elek. Junior defenseman Samantha Stewart (Lake Oswego, OR) collected the assist on the goal.
Bowdoin jumped on the power play after Kirsten Dier (Appleton, WI) was whistled for tripping. Just 22 seconds into the power-play, Amherst junior winger Lindsey Harrington (Westford, MA) stole the puck at the Amherst blue line and skated in alone on Mercer. Harrington deked to her backhand and tucked it into the net.
The Jeffs pushed the lead five minutes later on the power play when sophomore forward Molly Malloy (Stamford, CT) buried a loose puck from the slot. Dier and junior forward Anna MacLean (Edina, MN) were credited with assists. The Jeffs took control at the 16:54 mark when rookie forward Bradie Campbell (Surrey, BC) slid a backhand pass to senior forward Elizabeth Ditmore (Excelsior, MN) at the right circle and Ditmore calmly sent a wrist-shot glove side for her third goal of the season. Despite out-shooting the Jeffs for the second straight period, Bowdoin trailed by three goals heading into the second intermission.
Amherst struck again midway into the third period when Karega wheeled around the net and fired a wrist-shot into the top corner for her 15th goal of the season. Sophomore forward Michelle McGann (New Berlin, WI) tallied the assist.
The game ended with the Jeffs up 5-1, pushing the defending conference champions into next weekend's semifinal round. Mercer finished with 31 stops in goal while Elek made 33 saves for the Jeffs.
