The Roundup: All The Stuff You Missed This Week — Nov. 20

Women’s Hockey: The Mammoths kicked off the season with back-to-back duels against Hamilton on Friday and Saturday. Kate Pohl ’23 scored her first goal in purple and white in the first period to open the scoring, and Jillian Mazzocca ’23 put one past the goalie a minute into the second period. Despite the success of these first years, who played in the first and second lines in their inaugural games, Hamilton battled back to win 3-2 in the final 20 minutes of play. On Saturday, Amherst and Hamilton traded goals all afternoon, but a game winner from Mazzocca sent Hamilton packing and the team picked up its first win. The Mammoths will travel to face Middlebury on Friday, Nov. 22 and Saturday, Nov. 23.

Men’s Hockey: To start the season, Amherst squared off against Hamilton on Saturday afternoon. Amherst got off to a flying start, knocking in four goals in the first period and put the game to bed before it even began. Pieter von Steinbergs ’21 had two points, including an impressive short-handed goal late in the first period. Although Hamilton ended up putting two past Giancarlo Ventre ’20, the goaltender made 16 excellent saves in his first start of the season. When the dust settled, the Mammoths emerged victorious, 5-2. Amherst returns to action on Friday when they host the Trinity Bantams at home.

Men’s Squash: The men’s squash team swept Connecticut College in Saturday’s season opener. Amherst lost only two of 29 sets in the 9-0 win. Adam Lichtmacher ’23 dealt with his opponent in straight sets, an impressive performance for the first year on court one, the matchup of each team’s best player. Reggie Brewster ’21 had an impressive 3-0 sweep as well on court six in his season debut. From here, the team will go into a period of intense training before winter break and resume match play during Interterm, in an action-packed January of 12 matches, the first of which is against Yale on Jan. 7 in New Haven.

Women’s Squash: The women’s team performed to expectations in Saturday’s match, giving the Conn College Camels a solid hiding in a season-opening matchup. Amherst allowed just one Camel to score over five points in a set in the entire match, and no Camel claimed a set of her own. Jenna Finkelstein a’20 held her opponent to a single point in two out of three games on court six, an impressive feat in 15-point games. Amherst has one match just before Thanksgiving break on Friday, Nov. 22 against Saint Lawrence University, and then the team will train until the new year, when the majority of their season takes place.

Men’s Basketball: The men’s basketball team opened their season with a dominant victory over the Lasell University Lasers, winning 86-48 behind Eric Sellew’s ’20 game-high 17 points. Amherst led from the opening tip-off and never looked back. The team next plays against Elmira College on Friday, Nov. 22.

Women’s Swim & Dive: The Mammoths rolled through their tune-up match against Union College on Sunday Nov. 16 and won every gold medal available in the 15 events of the day. Julia Ruggiero ’21 kicked of the meet by winning the 1000-yard freestyle race, clocking 10 laps all just over a minute in duration. Amherst looks ahead to their next matchup when they face Colby on Saturday, Nov. 23.

Men’s Swim & Dive: The men’s team took home a massive victory over Union College in a warm-up meet to get the season off on the right foot. In diving portions of the meet, Amherst faced no competition from Union, but scored nonetheless. In fact, Amherst swept every podium in the 16-event meet except one. Amherst returns to dual meet action, competing in both swimming and diving, on Saturday when they take on the Colby Mules at home.