LEWISTON, ME – A goal two minutes into the third quarter ended the No. 25 Amherst College field hockey team's season as the Mammoths fell 1-0 against No. 4 Bates in a defensive back-and-forth contest on Saturday morning at Campus Avenue Field.
Amherst closed the season with a 9-9 overall record and a 4-6 finish in NESCAC play. Bates improved to 16-3 on the season and will move on in the NCAA Tournament to face either Tufts or Williams in the quarterfinals on Sunday.
From Senior Isa Lattuada: "We came out there ready and hungry to fight, and we were really looking for that win, so it was disappointing to not come out on top, but we're really proud of how we have played in the past week and the entire season as a whole."
GAME HIGHLIGHTS:
*Both sides wasted little time getting started as senior Justine Liguori hit a scooping shot toward the right corner 28 seconds into the match. Bates followed up with a penalty corner one minute later, but junior Maya Harrington quickly blocked and sent away a shot from senior Brooke Moloney-Kolenberg.
*The match was locked in a defensive stalemate until the final 30 seconds of the quarter, when junior Genevieve Caruso fired a powerful backhand toward the frame. Sophomore goaltender Ava Donohue chested down the ball to keep the contest tied at 0-0.
*Sophomore Elsa Copeland broke through Amherst's defensive line in the second minute of the second quarter and raced down the field for a one-on-one with junior goaltender Grace Puchalski. The latter came up big for the Mammoths to deny Copeland's shot with an outstretched leg.
*The Mammoth offensive unit heated up six minutes later with a penalty corner that saw the ball travel around the circle, but no Amherst player was able to find the frame.
*Bates found the back of the net on a three-corner sequence in the second minute of the third stanza. Sophomore Caroline Nowak inserted to junior Amy Labelle, whose shot found the stick of Copeland in front of the goal for a point-blank shot into the right corner, 1-0.
*Amherst's best chance of the quarter came from first-year Devon Watson, who wove around her defender and rocketed off a shot in the tenth minute, but the ball slid wide.
*The Mammoths kept the pressure on in the fourth quarter, with Caruso and Liguori teaming up to fire back-to-back shots on goal in the eighth minute, but Donohue and the Bobcat defense coalesced to deny Amherst's attempts for the rest of the contest.
BY THE NUMBERS:
*Both sides shared offensive advantages, with Amherst leading 7-4 in shots, Bates leading 4-1 in penalty corners, and both teams tying 3-3 in shots on goal.
*Caruso and Copeland led in shots taken, firing 3 each. Copeland had the most shots on goal of any player with 3.
*Puchalski made 2 saves across 56 minutes of play while Donohue made 3 saves across 60 minutes.
