AMHERST, Mass. -- Junior
Sam Maynard scored three straight goals Saturday, leading the No. 11-ranked Amherst College field hockey team to a 4-1 win over NESCAC foe, No. 13th-ranked Bates, on Hill Field.
Maynard's second hat trick of the season on the Hill helped the Mammoths improve to 3-3-0 overall and 1-2 in conference play. The Mammoths will host Colby Sunday at 12 p.m. Bates fell to 3-2 overall, 1-1 in conference play.
GAME HIGHLIGHTS:
* Amherst fell behind 1-0 only 7:29 into the game, but tied the game only 90 seconds later.
Abbey Kays starte the play in her own half, firing a pass that deflected off a Bobcats' stick but still found its way to
Paige DiBiase, who one-timed a quick pass downfield.
Muffie Mazambani raced onto the ball, split a pair of Bates defenders as she dribbled into the circle, wove her way past another and then artfully slid a shot along the ground into the far right-hand corner of the goal to beat an onrushing keeper.
* Amherst took the lead for good with 1:12 remaining in the initial period.
Justine Liguori stole possession back from a Bates defender and drove it back into the circle. It bounded off a stick to Kays, who swatted it toward the end line. Maynard raced there to stop it from going out of bounds and lifted the ball over the goalie's head toward the goal. A Bates defender swatted it out of harms way, but the ball went directly back to Maynard, now 3-4 feet away from the end line. She one-time the ball right back into the goal for the Amherst lead.
* The score stayed that way through halftime. Near the end of the third quarter, a Bates player received a yellow card and a tremendous collision with Mammoth defender
Charlotte Domittner, who survived and stayed in the game. The Mammoths were up a player for five minutes and took advantage. Off a re-start, back
Kate Smith passed it to Kays on the right sideline. Kays pass from midfield went all the way into the Bates circle, where Maynard used her speed and strength to steal the ball away from a Bobcat, draw the goalie out of position and then somehow score a goal from a difficult angle near the end line to the right of the goal for a 3-1 lead with 2:12 remaining in the period.
* Amherst scored again with 11 seconds left in the third stanza. Smith received a pass in her own end and drilled a long ball downfield. Mazambani got her stick on it to re-direct it right to Maynard, who had slipped behind a Bates defender in the circle. Given a one-on-one opportunity with the goalie, Maynard did not disappoint, slipping the ball to her backhand and sliding a shot underneath a diving keeper into the lwer left-hand corner of the net for the three-goal lead.
BY THE NUMBERS:
* It was an incredibly even game on the stat sheet. Both teams had 8 shots in the contest. Both teams had 2 penalty corners and both teams had 41 fouls.
* Amherst goalie Sarah Nidus came up with three saves, two big ones in the second quarter.
