Amherst blanks Manhattanville

AMHERST, Mass. -- Seven different Jeffs factored into the scoring to help ninth-ranked Amherst to a 3-0 victory against No. 10 Manhattanville in Orr Rink.

Just the second meeting between the schools, Amherst (4-1-2) evened the series at 1-1 with the Valiants (4-3-1) having taken the only other showdown in 2001 by a 7-1 margin.

Jumping out to an early lead, Amherst lit the lamp at the 8:46 mark of the first period. Carrying the puck over the blue line, Caitlyn Ryan put a hard shot on net. With junior goaltender Kirsten Shaughnessy unable to control the rebound, Madeline Tank hammered home the game’s first tally with the help of an Eileen Harris feed.

Holding a 6-4 shot-on-goal advantage in the opening period, the Purple & White nearly padded its cushion early in the second. Skating up ice, Emily Flom played a centering pass to an oncoming Tank. Quickly going to goal, the junior beat Shaughnessy with a wrister to the short side, but the shot rattled off the near post to prevent the Jeffs from doubling their margin.

With just seven minutes to go in the stanza, Erin Martin came in on a breakaway, but Shaughnessy held the right post, forcing the forward to send the try wide. On the power play minutes later, Martin hit the post. Continuing to apply pressure on the man advantage, Hayley Opperman and Harris got a pair of shots off from point-blank range, but Shaughnessy was again there, turning away both tries before gloving another Martin attempt to momentarily keep Manhattanville within one.

Keeping the puck in the visitors’ zone for the remainder of the period, Amherst’s persistence paid off with a pair of late scores. Finding open space between the circles, Tank made good on a Flom pass, beating Shaughnessy at 14:02. With less than two minutes remaining in the frame, Tori Salmon extended the lead, racing up the right side before rifling a hard wrist shot over Shaughnessy’s shoulder and into the top left corner of the net.

Despite getting outshot 6-4 in the final 20 minutes, Amherst finished the game with a decisive 22-13 edge in chances. Kerri Stuart made 13 saves en route to her seventh career shutout, while Shaughnessy had 19 stops.