Alex Thomas
Contributing Writer
The Springfield College field hockey team took on No. 10 Amherst College Wednesday in a tough matchup at Stagg Field. The Pride came into the game looking to build off of their win against Clark on Sept. 14.
Even though the Pride (3-3) got the first real scoring chance in each half, Amherst (4-0) dominated the total play, putting seven by Pride goalie Timarie Villa, en route to a 7-0 victory and improving their already perfect record.
The Lord Jeffs got on the board early in the first half, as Alex Philie blasted a shot past Villa with 28:38 to play in the half.
With Amherst dominating play in the first, they would add another goal less than four minutes later as Madeline Tank put home a goal off of a rebound.
The Lord Jeffs added two more goals within 10 minutes, as Ellie Anderson scored off of a scramble in front of the net following a penalty corner. That was followed up by a goal from Krista Zsitvay, who gave Amherst a 4-0 lead with 15:01 to play.
Springfield coach, Melissa Sharpe would call a timeout in hopes of turning the tide around and getting Springfield back in the game, but that did little to help
“Well, it was a tough game. Amherst is a top team in the country every year. We prefer a tougher schedule though.” said Sharpe. “We saw improvement from the team and made some adjustments at the half,” she added.
The defenders had a tough time completing any kind of pass outside of the zone as the Amherst players were all over the ball, and in great position to make a play on the Pride.
In addition to the defense, Amherst was a great possession team on offense and rarely made any mistakes to give Springfield a break. The Pride could not build momentum most of the afternoon, and it showed in the first-half scoreline.
Amherst added one more tally before the half as Tank would add her second of the game off of a rebound in front of the Pride net.
The second half saw Springfield come out and play a solid first 10 minutes. They had the first real scoring chance of the half, and also had two corners which they were unable to convert on. However, Amherst would once again take control of the game and find the back of the net.
With 23:16 left in the game, the Lord Jeffs got another blast from Philie for her second goal of the game, which gave them a 6-0 lead. Finally, with 7:08 to go, Katie McMahon added a tally to close out the scoring.
Perhaps the most telling number was in the shot differential. Amherst outshot Springfield by an impressive 27-3 margin.
The Pride will resume play on Saturday at Smith College in their second NEWMAC match-up. They are also currently in a four-way tie for first with a 1-0 record in NEWMAC play.