Scrivanich's OT Goal Gives Field Hockey 2-1 Win at Amherst

Box Score AMHERST- Rachel Scrivanich's overtime goal gave #4 Tufts Field Hockey a hard-fought 2-1 win at #12 Amherst College on Saturday afternoon.

Scrivanich received a pass from Schuyler Eddie inside the circle and was able to score it just less than five minutes into the extra frame. The goal came after Amherst had controlled most of the play in overtime. They had a good look after a penalty corner was taken by the Muffie Mazambani, but Sam Maynard wasn't able to convert it as the Jumbos' Sam Gibby saved it.

The first half of the game was an even one with both teams having good opportunities to score. Amherst had the best one though as Tufts fouled Mazambani as she had her stick knocked out of her hands inside the circle and the referee awarded Amherst with a penalty shot. Kat Mason was the player who took the penalty shot for Amherst, but she missed the goal wide. A couple minutes after that Tufts had three consecutive penalty corners, but were unable to get any past Amherst goalie Sara Nidus and the Mammoths' defense.

After the teams traded opportunities to score to start the third quarter, the Jumbos' Lainie Pearson had a good look from a couple yards away, but missed the shot wide. Then following an Amherst foul, Tufts' Mia D'Angelo had a corner opportunity. The first pass she had went up top to Reegan McCluskey, who controlled it and passed it to Kylie Rosenquest and she put the shot home to give Tufts a 1-0 lead with 6:04 left in the third quarter. With the score now 1-0 Tufts, Amherst became the more aggressive team and started to ramp up the pressure on the Jumbos. They out-shot the Jumbos 3-0 over the remainder of the period and forced Gibby to make several nice saves.

In the fourth quarter, the Mammoths carried over the momentum they had and were able to find an equalizer just 1:18 into the fourth quarter after they had three consecutive penalty corners. Mazambani took the corner for Amherst and passed it to Sage Geyer at the top of the circle. Geyer tapped it to Beth Willamson next to her who saw Abbey Kays wide open on the right wing and fed it to her and she scored to tie the game at 1-1. Then with less than a minute left in regulation, Amherst had a penalty corner and after the ball being knocked around a couple time it came to Keys, but her shot just went wide and the fourth quarter ended 1-1.

This was a very physical game during which the Mammoths out-shot the Jumbos 16-10 and had a 9-4 advantage in terms of shots on goal. Amherst also held a 12-6 advantage over Tufts in corners. With all the opportunities Amherst had, it meant Gibby had to be on top of her game and she was as she had seven saves on the afternoon and Nidus has two for the Mammoths.

For the Jumbos, this win moves them to 4-0 on the season and 2-0 in NESCAC play. They will be on the road tomorrow as they face Williams College at noon. Following the loss, Amherst is now 2-2 on the season and 0-2 in conference play. They will square off with MIT next Saturday on the road.
 
Written by Ryan Daly, Athletic Communications Intern