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  • Amherst’s Josie Fischer (center) tries to outrace Gustavus Adolphus College’s Sara Yunger (left) and Kirstin Peterson to the puck during the first period of Friday’s NCAA Division III women’s hockey semifinal game at Don Roberts Ice Rink. John Cross

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  • Gustavus Adolphus sophomore goalie Danielle Justice deflects a shot from Amherst’s Cianna Wyshnytzky in St. Peter Friday. John Cross

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March 20, 2010

Gustavus falls to Amherst in national semifinals

Gusties to play Elmira in third place game today

By Jim Rueda Free Press Sports Editor

ST PETER — For the returning players on the Amherst College women’s hockey team the memory was still fairly fresh.

In January of 2009, the Lord Jeffs traveled to Minnesota for a game against Western power Gustavus Adolphus College and wound up getting shut out 3-0 at Don Roberts Ice Rink in St. Peter. It was the first loss of the season for Amherst.

The Jeffs, who went on to win the NCAA Division III national championship last season, were back on the same sheet of ice Friday night, only this time it was the semifinals of the 2010 D-III tournament. Amherst came out firing, gaining the advantage from the opening whistle and skating to a 4-0 victory over Gustavus.

“Being from Minnesota I’m familiar with Gustavus and the up-tempo style they play,” Amherst’s junior forward Megan Curry said. “This was a revenge game for us. We wanted some payback.”

Amherst controlled the first period decisively as the Jeffs did an excellent job of cutting off passing lanes and making it difficult for Gustavus to break the puck out. By period’s end Amherst had a 7-1 shot advantage.

“They forecheck very well,” Gustavus coach Mike Carroll said afterward. “They come at you hard and they did a nice job of bottling us up. This was the best team we played all year.”

The Jeffs scored first on a power play at the 13:48 mark of the opening period. After the Gusties’ Mollie Carroll was whistled to the box for cross-checking, the Jeffs’ Kirsten Dier slid a pass over to Stephanie Clegg near the top of the slot. Clegg sent an off-paced shot toward the crease which bounced off Gustavus’s Melissa Mackley and into the net.

Gustavus evened things up in the second period, taking a 10-6 edge in shots and getting some quality opportunities. Amherst refused to get flustered, however, and scored the only goal of the period at the 11:25 mark.

Just five seconds after Gustavus’ Lindsey Hjelm was sent to the penalty box for interference, Dier capitalized. The defender took advantage of some traffic in front to launch a shot from the right point that found the upper-left corner of the net.

Gustavus had an excellent chance to get back in it with less then four minutes left in the second when Amherst’s Courtney Hanlon was whistled for charging. While the Gusties put some pressure on during the power play, goaltender Caroline Hu was up to the task and repelled each of them.

“This was probably Caroline’s best game,” Amherst coach Jim Plumer said. “She swallowed everything up and didn’t give up many rebounds at all.

“Gustavus got their forecheck going at times but, for the most part I think our defense played well. We kept them to the outside most of the game.”

Curry all but clinched the win for Amherst with 12:40 remaining in the third. She picked off a pass at her own blueline, beat three Gustavus defenders up the ice, and slipped the puck between goalie Danielle Justice’s skates for a 3-0 lead.

“We just didn’t play very well,” Gustavus’ Melissa Mackley said. “They say you make your own luck and we didn’t play well enough to get some of that luck tonight.”

Amherst’s Kate Dennett scored an empty-netter with 31 seconds left to cap the scoring.

Gustavus ended up with a 24-21 shot advantage, but was 0 for 2 on power plays compare to 2 for 5 for the Jeffs.

Gustavus (22-5-2) now advances to the third place game against Elmira of New York at 3:30 p.m. at Don Roberts Ice Rink. Elmira fell to Norwich 3-2 in Friday’s other semifinal.

“We could have played better tonight but we have to let that go and come back and play well tomorrow,” Carroll said. “I’m sure the players will be up for it."

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