BRUNSWICK, Maine - Katie Riley scored the game-winning stroke to lift the third-ranked Bowdoin field hockey team over eighth-ranked Amherst College, 2-1 in penalty strokes on Sunday afternoon. The loss drops the eighth-ranked Jeffs to a record of 9-2 (6-2 NESCAC) while the third-ranked Polar Bears remain unbeaten at 10-0 (8-0 NESCAC) this year.
    
The pace of play was back and forth in the early going, as both teams fought for control of the ball in the midfield. Katie Herter was able to break through and score the only goal of the first half at 15:19. Herter finished off a loose scramble in front to put the Polar Bears on top. Amherst mounted pressure early in the second half that opened a number of scoring attempts. Sarah McCarrick converted a penalty corner on an insert by Katie McMahon to tie up the game with 27:53 remaining in regulation. Both teams battled for the rest of the half, each surviving player-down situations resulting from yellow cards. Kayla Lessard made an excellent save of an Amherst penalty corner to subdue a late flurry and force the contest into overtime.

The overtime belonged to the goaltenders as Amherst's Rachel Tannenbaum stymied several Bowdoin penalty corner attempts. On the other end of the field, Lessard made saves on back-to-back Amherst corner chances. Herter nearly put home the winning goal with one-second left to play in the first extra session, but McCarrick made a huge defensive save for the Lord Jeffs by knocking the ball out of the air and away from the net. The Polar Bears could not solve Tannenbaum in the second overtime, forcing the game to be decided by strokes.

In the best-of-five penalty stroke session, Lessard made two fantastic saves to give the Polar Bears a 3-2 lead heading into the final round. Katie Riley stepped up and snapped the winning goal into the left side of the cage to give the Polar Bears the win. Emily French, Katie Herter and Kassey Matoin also scored strokes for Bowdoin, while Carly Dudzik and Sarah McCarrick added strokes for Amherst.

Rachel Tannenbaum made 22 saves in net for the Lord Jeffs while Kayla Lessard turned aside 10 shots for Bowdoin. Bowdoin owned a 41-13 shot total and a 22-13 advantage in penalty corners.

Bowdoin will face Husson in a non-conference tilt at home on Wednesday, October 19th at 7pm. Amherst will play at Smith on October 20th.

Penalty stroke highlights - two saves by Lessard and Riley's game-winner