Box Score AMHERST, Mass.--Sophomore forward Katie McMahon scored four goals and dished out assists on three others to lead the 17th-ranked Amherst College field hockey team to a 9-0 win over Smith College Tuesday evening on Gooding Field. The Lord Jeffs improve to 9-3, while the Pioneers fall to 4-9.

Amherst held a 5-0 lead at halftime and scored its sixth goal 48 seconds into the second half, with McMahon having a hand in each of the Jeffs' first six goals. The hosts added three goals in the final 18:17, finishing the night with a 31-8 advantage in shots (16-2 in the second half) and a 9-3 edge in penalty corners (5-0 in the second half).Savannah Lawson  finished with nine saves for the visitors.

McMahon needed less than five minutes to put Amherst on the board. After Carly Dudzik had an attempt knocked away, McMahon came up with the loose ball and dribbled herself free before placing a shot from the left side to the far post to make it a 1-0 game. Nine and a half minutes later, a McMahon shot from the top of the circle was deflected into the cage by Krista Zsitvay, who picked up her third goal of the year.

Smith came back and earned its first penalty corner of the game with 19:30 remaining in the half, but the Pioneers could not put a shot on goal. Two minutes later Grace Maliska  made a nice effort on a deflection, but Schink came up with her first big save of the evening.

The Jeffs scored three times in a span of 8:25 to close out the scoring in the first half, with McMahon netting back-to-back goals after deflecting shots by Rachel Lupien and Chrissy Cantore. Cantore then put home her sixth goal of the season on an assist from McMahon.

The Pioneers would get the final scoring chance of the opening half when Maliska fired a close-range shot on target with five minutes to play, but she was denied by Schink. Smith was awarded a penalty stroke after Schink fell on top of the ball, but Phoebe Hopkins hit the left post to keep the score at 5-0 heading into the break.

Both teams will return to action this Saturday, with the Jeffs traveling to face Wesleyan University at noon in a pivotal NESCAC matchup. Smith will host Wheaton College at 1 p.m.

(Parts of this story courtesy Amherst Sports Information)