AMHERST, Mass. -- Senior Caitlin Walker made 36 saves Saturday -- 19 in the first period alone -- as the Amherst College women's hockey team blanked sixth-seeded Bowdoin in the quarterfinals of the New England Small College Athletic Conference Tournament at Orr Rink. 

Rylee Glennon scored twice in the win while Carley Daly added one goal and two assists and Kate Pohl had one goal and one assist. 

The Mammoths improved to 13-8-2 on the season, having gone 8-1-2 in their last 11 games. The defending NESCAC Champions advance to the semifinals for the seventh consecutive conference tournament. Their opponent will be determined after No. 1 Middlebury and No. 9 Connecticut College meet tomorrow in the final quarterfinal. 

GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

* The Mammoths were out shot 19-3 in the opening 20 minutes but thanks to Walker, the game remained scoreless after one period of play. The majority of her saves were of the above average variety. With 8:59 left in the period she stoned Bowdoin's Malloy Clifford who fired a point blank shot from the left of the goal mouth. Minutes later she slid across the crease to her left to rob Gia Massari's point-blank attempt with her left pad. With the Polar Bears on the power play one minute later, the puck squirted out of a group in the slot over to the left to Bowdoin's Allie Britt, who had a wide open goal for a moment before Walker's quick response smothered her shot attempt.

* Amherst came out of the locker room with a different energy to start the second stanza and it paid off 41 seconds in when some hard work in the right corner from Daly paid off with the puck on her tape and she wheeled into the slot and delivered a backhand which was stopped by Bowdoin netminder Dani Marquez. The keeper tried to poke the loose puck out of danger, but instead it came out to Daly, whose subsequent shot was blocked. The puck rebounded to Kelsie Schwartz at the face-off circle on the right and she one-timed a beautiful shot into the top shelf on the left for a 1-0 Mammoth lead.

* Less than four minutes later the Mammoths made it 2-0 when Daly caused a turnover at center ice, poking the puck away from an advancing skater. Chasing down the play, Angelina Wiater picked up the loose puck along the left boards and skated into the Bowdoin zone 2 on 1 with Pohl. Wiater slid a cross ice pass to Pohl, sending her in on Marquez all alone. The Mammoth sharpshooter did not miss, beating the goalie over the shoulder with a shot into the top shelf right side. 

* Amherst would put the game away with three third-period goals despite being out shot 12-8 in the period. Glennon scored at the 16:11 mark after Anna Baxter won a scrum in her own zone along the right boards near the blueline, kicking the puck free to center ice where Glennon picked it up. Glennon slid a quick pass to Alyssa Xu, and as Xu reached the right face-off circle, she dealt it back to Glennon, who zoomed in on net, switched to her backhand and beat Marquez over the right pad. 

* Glennon scored again at the 9:02 mark and Daly finished off the scoring with 1:47 remaining for the 5-0 margin. 



BY THE NUMBERS:

* Each team was called for three penalties in the game. Neither team scored a power-play goal. 

* Walker lowered her goals against average to 1.24 on the season while upping her save percentage to .951 at the same time.