Box Score HAVERFORD, PA. The No. 16-ranked Amherst College women's lacrosse team rode an 8-2 scoring run to another top 25 win on Wednesday, March 18. Taking a spring-break trip down to the Philadelphia area to take on non-conference opponent #23 Haverford, the Mammoths battled back after a quiet first half to down the Fords 16-11.

With the win, the Mammoths improve to 3-2 this season, while Haverford fell to 7-2. Amherst will continue their five-game road stretch with two games this weekend, the first coming in three days' time. They will face Bowdoin in Brunswick, Maine on Saturday, March 22, with the game against the Polar Bears set to begin at 12 p.m.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS:
 
* Two early goals from the Fords put the Mammoths in an early hole, but they fought their way back to even with back-to-back-goals of their own. The first came by way of Clara Sosa, with the junior diving to the net and scoring off a feed in front by Kate Becker. Becker also had the helper on the second Amherst goal, feeding sophomore Ella Shay on a similar play four minutes later.
 
* After this goal, however, the Amherst offense seemed to stagnate, with Haverford going on a 4-0 run to take a 6-2 lead with 9:40 to go in the second quarter. But, the Mammoths would not go down without a fight, and finished the half with two unanswered goals. With 6:27 remaining, Amherst sharpshooter Sofia Guttmann fired a laser past the Fords goalie from just inside the 8-meter. Then, Sydney Kang tallied on a woman-up chance with a nifty dodge and close range shot along goal-line extended to narrow the deficit to 6-4 heading into the half.
 
* Though Haverford opened the second half scoring to restore their three-goal lead, Amherst stuck around to give themselves an opening. Their first goal of the half was scored by Bridget Finley off a free-position opportunity before Guttmann roped another long-range stunner past the Fords' netminder to make it 7-6. The home side then finished their first opportunity in a while to widen the lead back to two, but the best was yet to come from this Mammoths squad.
 
* Amherst's offense came to life after that Haverford goal, going on a 8-2 scoring run spanning about 23 minutes of game time. Sosa started the run with a woman-up, free-position shot. Raven then got in on the action, netting the team's second consecutive free-position goal to tie the game at 8-8. Next up was a hattrick-sealer from Guttmann, and Raven's second goal of the day closed the third quarter with Amherst having flipped the script, holding a two-goal lead of their own at 10-8.
 
*  The run continued in the fourth, with Finley getting her second of the day on a free-position opportunity she earned with some slick footwork. Haverford responded with their first goal since the 9:22 mark of the third quarter, but three more Mammoth goals, from Finley, Sosa, and Raven --- the final goal coming on a woman-up opportunity off an assist from Sosa --- gave the Mammoths a 14-9 advantage with 8:06 to go in the game.
 
* The Fords hit double digits with 3:48 to go, shrinking the Amherst lead to 14-10 off a cut to the net, but Emily Petersen kept her scoring streak alive with a free-position goal to restore the five-goal lead. Raven then put a bow on her dominant offensive performance, tallying a fourth with 55 seconds to go to ice and a garbage time goal from the Fords put the final touches on a 16-11 Mammoth victory.
 
 
BY THE NUMBERS:

* Raven netted four times against Haverford, while Sosa, Guttmann, and Finley all recorded three-goal games. These performances helped the Mammoths to their highest offensive output of the season at 16 total goals. 

* The Mammoths won the game in the draw circle --- they won the battle for possession 19-11 and turned those opportunities into goals on the scoreboard, going 5-for-6 on free-position opportunities.
 
* Goalie Lily Samoska made five saves on the day.