AMHERST, Mass. - A two-goal run in the second half broke the game open as 18th-ranked Amherst College defeated Mount Holyoke College, 4-1 in non-conference field hockey action on Thursday evening. The Mammoths move to 1-0, while the Lyons shoulder their first loss of the season and are now 1-1.

Amherst opened the scoring at 7:08 of the first half as Megan Shea converted on a pass from Natalie Hobbs. The Lyons countered less than 50 seconds later as senior Kristina Ramsden battled through in front of the cage, firing in a pass from junior Lia Messersmith.

The Mammoths kept up solid pressure against MHC, peppering the Lyons' goal with 12 shots in the opening stanza. The persistence paid off at 30:30 as Kendall Codey banked in a feed from Laura Schwartzman for the 2-1 lead.

In the second stanza, Schwartzman garnered her second assist of the night, passing the ball to Natalie Hobbs as she scored at 45:04. The Mammoths finally tally came less than 10 minutes later as Codey notched her second of the evening off of Schwartzman's third helper of the night.

In goal, Katie Savage posted the Amherst victory with two saves over 65:30 minutes of action. Emilie Flamme came on for the final 4:30 of relief and did not make a save. For MHC, junior Morgan Turner posted a career-high 20 saves over 62:55 minutes. Rookie Emilie Warren played the final 7:05, recording one stop.

Mount Holyoke returns to action on Saturday when it hosts Stevens Institute of Technology at 12pm on the MHC Turf Field. Amherst is also in action on Saturday in an 11am conference tilt at Bowdoin.

Photo credit to Perry Laskaris.