Amherst, Mass. - Randi Zukas (Glen Head, N.Y.) scored the
game-winning goal in the third period and added an assist to lead
the Amherst College Lord Jeffs to a 3-2 victory over the visiting
Trinity College Bantams in New England Small College Athletic
Conference (NESCAC) women's ice hockey action this afternoon at Orr
Rink. Trinity suffers its first loss of the season to fall to
3-1-2 overall and 1-1-2 in the NESCAC, while top-ranked and
defending NCAA Champio Amherst improves to 4-0-1 overall and 3-0-1
in the league. The teams skated to a scoreless tie last night
at Orr Rink.
Amherst opened the scoring less than seven minutes into the
first period, as senior Kate Dennett (Highlands Ranch,
Colo.) deflected in a Zukas shot from the point. Less than
one minute later, Amherst took a 2-0 lead as senior tri-captain
Kirsten Dier (Appleton, Wisc.) redirected a
Josie Fisher (Norwich, Vt.) pass high over Trinity
goaltender Isabel Iwachiw's (New York, N.Y.)
head.
Early in the second period, a bouncing puck popped over Amherst
defender Stephanie Clegg's (Woburn, Mass.) stick
to spring the Bantams for a 2-on-1. On the break, Jill
Roloff (West Seneca, N.Y.) found Celia
Colman-McGaw (Manchester, Conn.) in alone with
Amherst netminder Caroline Hu (Cerritos, Calif.).
Colman-Mcgaw beat Hu with some nice stick skills to cut Amherst's
lead in half at 2-1.
Just after the midpoint of the second stanza, Trinity found the net
on a power-play to equalize the game at 2-2. On the tying goal,
Hannah Harvey (Silverthorne,
Colo.) redirected a slap shot from the left point.
Harvey tipped Laura Komerek's (Plymouth,
Minn.) shot high over Hu's shoulder. The second
assist on the tying goal went to Trinity's Brigitte Cellino
(Buffalo, N.Y.).
At the 12:42 mark of the third period, Amherst went back on top 3-2
on a power-play score by Zukas. After holding the puck in the
Bantam zone for nearly a minute, Zukas let a slap shot from the
blue line fly that beat Iwachiw. Just two minutes after the
Zukas score, Trinity nearly tied the game up once again, but a
power play shot that popped over Hu's head nicked the crossbar and
landed on top of the Amherst net. The opportunity proved to be the
final close call of the game, as the Lord Jeffs closed out the win
on the power play. Hu made seven saves for the win, while
Iwachiw turned away 33 shots in net for the Bantams.
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