MIDDLETOWN, CT - Amherst remained undefeated in NESCAC play this season with a convincing 6-0 decision on the road vs. Little Three rival Wesleyan tonight. Sophomore Kate Dennett led the way for the Lord Jeffs (6-3-2, 5-0-2), ranked seventh nationally in Division III, with a pair of goals and an assist for a three-point game.
Three others enjoyed two-point efforts for Amherst, which remains in first place in the NESCAC standings with 12 points. Helping the defending NESCAC tournament champs with a goal and an assist each were junior Taragai Karega and freshman Randi Zugas. Adding a pair of assists was sophomore Michelle McGann. Posting her second shutout of the year while improving her record to 3-0-1 was first-year goalie Caroline Hu, who needed to make just eight saves. She now has a .943 save percentage and a 0.73 goals-against average in four starts. Amherst enjoyed a 46-8 shot-on-goal margin.
Zukas got credit for the game-winner at 9:04 of the first period, slapping a shot from the point just inside the left goal post during a power play. It was the only goal of the opening stanza and the first of her career. Amherst made it 3-0 with a pair of second-period goals 4:33 apart with Dennett netting the first of her two tallies at 3:03, receiving a pass from the right circle by Zukas and putting it home from the slot. Top scorer and NESCAC first-team pick in 2006-07 Karega was next to score, also doing so from the slot
off a centering pass from behind the net by Dennett. Karega now has nine goals and five assists for 14 points this season.
Amherst got its final three goals in the late stages of the third period as first-year Brittney Evans poked one in from close range at 11:23 followed by a pair of rebound goals, one at 16:24 by Dennett, who initially hit Wesleyan junior goalie Rachel Stemerman (40 saves) in the mask with her first shot. First-year CC Wyshnytzky finished off the scoring at 18:48 as she collared a rebound of first-year Megan Curry's shot that Stemerman stopped with the inside of her left pad.
Amherst reached the NCAA Division III Frozen Four a year ago and finished with a 20-7-4 overall record. Two of those wins came over Wesleyan, 3-0 and 5-1, as Amherst has now defeated Wesleyan eight straight times. Wesleyan was 18-0-1 vs. Amherst, with the first nine contests coming while Amherst was still a non-varsity club, over the first 19 meetings since 1988. Since the 1999-00 campaign, Amherst is 11-3-1 vs. Wesleyan. Wesleyan still holds a 13-12-1 edge in the series since both teams have been varsity. Wesleyan's first varsity season was 1977-78.
