Amherst Edges Taconic at Boys and Girls Club
PITTSFIELD, Mass. – Amherst’s Yuuki Ishida scored two goals late in the second period Wednesday to lead the Hurricanes to a 3-1, come-from-behind win over Taconic at the Boys and Girls Club.
After controlling play most of the first period, the Thunder started strong in the second when Dom Velasco drove in from the left wing and slipped a shot past Amherst keeper Spencer McDonald (31 saves) to give his team a 1-0 lead. Cody Soper assisted on the goal.
That is where things stood in the 26th minute, when Taconic took its first penalty of the night.
About 20 seconds into the power play, Ishida scored with assists from Benjamin Remensnyder and Skyler Ferro to level the score with 3 minutes, 58 seconds left in the period.
With 19 seconds left Ishida took a pass in the slot and fired a shot past Taconic keeper Cam LaFerriere to give the visitors a 2-1 lead.
Taconic had a chance to even things up when it earned its second power play opportunity with 5:11 left in the third, but Amherst closed the door. And Ferro added an empty net goal in the final minute to round out the scoring.
Taconic coach Matt Risley said that, despite the end result, his team looked much better than it did in a 5-2 loss to the Hurricanes on the road just more than a month ago.
“We had better effort, better play making, more of a team effort tonight than we did when we played them down there,” Risley said. “So we’re making strides in the right direction. It’s just putting a full game together. That’s the goal. We’re right there. We’re just coming up a little short right now.”
Taconic (3-6-3) came out strong in front of the home crowd, buzzing around Amherst’s goal and outshooting the ‘Canes (11-41), 13-6, in the first 15 minutes.
“We played very well in the first period,” Risley said. “We had the jump on them. Their goalie played very well. We just couldn’t find the back of the net. But we definitely outplayed them, and that was a positive sign, I thought.
“It was a good, hard fought game the whole way. And at the end, we just came up a little short. Pull the goalie, that’s the chance you take in a 2-1 game. It made it 3-1.
“But our kids gave everything they had. That’s all you can ask from them.”
Taconic is home again on Saturday afternoon against Westfield.