The NESCAC women's hockey championship game featured two teams, Middlebury and Amherst, whose postseason r?©sum?©s were hardly comparable.
Coming into the 2006-07 season, the Panthers had captured the NESCAC Tournament title four times in six years, while the Lord Jeffs had endured five-consecutive first-round exits. Whereas Middlebury was a three-time defending national champion, Amherst had never even made an appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
But while past success suggested the Panthers were an overwhelming favorite in the NESCAC title game, the underdog Jeffs surprised everyone, edging Middlebury 2-1 in a triple-overtime thriller on March 4. The longest game in Div. III women's hockey history put an exclamation point on a Cinderella season for Amherst, one which saw the team earn a program-record 20 wins and advance to the NCAA Final Four. Still, there was no doubt the victory over Middlebury was the highlight of the season, giving the Jeffs their first-ever conference championship.
"I don't think it gets any better than beating Middlebury in three-OT for the NESCAC title," freshman goalie Krystyn Elek said in an e-mail to the Daily. "That team plays with a lot of heart; they are a proud school, and winning in that style made it that much better."
Amherst's win capped a thrilling NESCAC Tournament run that saw the team earn three overtime victories over Williams, Bowdoin and Middlebury, perennially the top-three teams in the conference. Leading the way was Elek, who lived up to her billing as the NESCAC Rookie of the Year, making a conference-tournament record 127 saves over the three games. Allowing Amherst to stay in the game despite being outshot 66-24, her play against Middlebury took a lot of the pressure off her team.
"We knew she wasn't going to let anything in if we just gave her a little bit of defensive help," senior tri-captain Kirsten Forsberg said. "So all we were focusing on was getting that goal. And we knew that if we did our job and put the puck in the net, the defensive part would take care of itself. That gave us a lot of confidence."
It wasn't always apparent that the Jeffs, who started off the year 3-4 with losses to Middlebury, Bowdoin and Williams, were ready to join the ranks of the NESCAC's elite this season. But the team lost only one regular season game after Dec. 8, reeling off an 11-game unbeaten streak that included a Jan. 13 road victory over Wisconsin-River Falls, then the No. 9 team in the country.
"We came out and we played with passion, and we played with poise, and we made them play the type of game that we like to play," said coach Jim Plumer, the NESCAC Coach of the Year. "After that, we realized we were a national-caliber team."
Another of the team's monumental wins came on Feb. 10 when Amherst defeated Williams 5-4 in overtime, giving the program its first-ever win over its archrival.
"As a senior, I'd played them seven times up to that point and lost to them every single time," Forsberg said. "To lose to your rival seven times in a row in some pretty close games is really frustrating. To get that first win against them, especially in overtime, for me was almost as exciting as everything else."
Heading into the NESCAC Tournament, however, the team had gone just 0-2-2 in four regular season meetings against Middlebury and Bowdoin, which together have won every conference championship since the tournament's inception in 2002.
But Amherst was by no means overmatched in those efforts. Against the Panthers, the Jeffs had surrendered just three goals in two regular season games, all on the power play. Additionally, Amherst controlled much of its Jan. 19 meeting against the Polar Bears, holding a 3-0 lead in the 57th minute before settling for a 3-3 tie. Amherst's ability to compete with the NESCAC's powerhouse programs was a major psychological boost for the team heading into the postseason.
"Our games against Middlebury were a huge confidence builder because we knew they couldn't beat us five-on-five," sophomore forward Tarasai Karega said. "Against Bowdoin, we had a three-goal lead on them, and we learned that we could play with the top teams in the NESCAC. We went into the NESCAC Tournament knowing we could play with a national contender."
Throughout the season, the Jeffs were led by the play of three young stars, all of whom garnered First-Team All-NESCAC accolades. Elek was a wall in net nearly the entire season, stringing together a streak of 15-straight scoreless periods from Dec. 2-Jan. 13 and posting a dazzling 1.64 goals against average.
"My first NESCAC Player of the Week [on Jan. 8] felt like I had won a Grammy," Elek said. "I set my personal goals high this year, but I didn't think fulfilling those goals would take me where they did ... To be able to surpass those goals was amazing and unexpected."
Karega also earned an All-NESCAC selection for the first time in her career after leading the conference with 20 goals. Finishing sixth in the NESCAC with 18 assists, freshman defenseman Kirsten Dier joined her on the First Team.
With so much young talent on the squad, Amherst's six seniors were often asked to play secondary roles. Their unselfishness exemplified a team chemistry that was so vital to the Jeffs' success.
"We did have situations down the stretch where we had seniors who played one or two shifts in a game or not at all," Plumer said. "To see that kind of leadership and maturity and willingness to accept roles, it doesn't really happen that often in my experience."
With all of its All-NESCAC selections returning, Amherst is a sure bet to compete for another conference championship next season. But the team will no longer be able to play the underdog role in which it thrived this season.
"It's great that we won't be the underdogs anymore," Karega said. "It'll be a new position for us, a better one. There's nothing bad about being good and being recognized for our talent as a team."
