AMHERST, Mass. – Amherst College's Mary Grace Cronin '18 scored five goals, and the 12th-ranked Purple & White held a 7-1 advantage after 30 minutes of play to help seal an 11-6 victory over No. 9 Bowdoin College in Saturday afternoon's 2016 season and NESCAC opener at Pratt Field.

RECORDS
Bowdoin (0-1, 0-1 NESCAC)
Amherst (1-0, 1-0 NESCAC)

FIRST HALF HIGHLIGHTS

• Amherst scored seven of its 11 goals in the first half, including three from Cronin and two from Kate Wyeth '17.
• Bowdoin struck first just 34 seconds into the contest as Megan O'Connor found the back of the net for the first time this season to give the Polar Bears a 1-0 lead.
• Cronin answered with back-to-back unassisted strikes separated by less than one minute to give the Purple & White a 2-1 advantage at the 25:49 mark.
• Jacq Fitzgerald '19 netted her first collegiate tally with 23:54 to play in the first half on a feed from Cronin, before Mia Haughton '16 delivered a pair of beautiful helpers to Wyeth and Rachel Passarelli '16 to set the score at 5-1 with 16:30 remaining the frame.
• Cronin added her third unassisted marker at the 12:55 mark, and Wyeth notched her second goal of the contest with 7:51 to play following a pass from Coco Kusiak '17 to give Amherst a 7-1 cushion at intermission. 

SECOND HALF HIGHLIGHTS

• A free position score by Cronin gave the Purple & White an 8-1 lead early in the second half, before Emma Beecher and Mettler Growney registered back-to-back scoring strikes for Bowdoin to the score at 8-3 with 26:10 on the clock. Lindsay Picard provided the assists on Beecher's score.
• After Passarelli and Margaret Savage exchanged scores with Haughton and Beecher assisting on the respective goals that set the score at 9-4, Amherst pulled away as Claire Cagnassola '17 and Cronin fired in a goal each at 11:37 and 7:12 to give the Purple & White an 11-4 advantage.
• The Polar Bears struck the nylon twice more as O'Connor scored on a feed from Picard with 4:21 to play; and Picard then scored an unassisted marker 16 seconds later to close out the scoring for the game.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Christy Forrest '16 was terrific in goal for Amherst making nine of her 14 saves in the first half.
• Kayli Weiss and Erin Morrissey each played a half between the pipes for Bowdoin with Weiss making three stops, while Morrissey fended off six shots.
• Haughton led the Purple & White with five ground balls caused three turnovers, while Cagnassola registered seven of the team's nine draw controls.
• The Polar Bears were led by five ground balls from Picard and three each from Growney and Halsey McKinney, while Beecher earned five of the team's 10 draws.

UP NEXT

• Amherst returns to NESCAC action next Saturday, March 12 at Bates College for a 2:30 p.m. contest in Lewiston, Maine.
• Bowdoin takes the field when it hosts the University of New England in non-league play Tuesday, March 8 at 7 p.m.