AMHERST — A week of rest and recovery should help the No. 2 Amherst College women’s hockey team in its quest for the Division III NCAA Tournament Championship title, which begins with a quarterfinal round matchup against No. 8 Colby on Saturday at Orr Rink.

The Mammoths (21-5-1) beat Middlebury, 1-0, during the NESCAC Championship game on March 9, giving them a first-round bye in the NCAA Tournament as a top-four seed.

Amherst will host a plucky Mules (18-6-2) squad, who took down No. 11 Wilkes, 4-3, during the first round of the NCAA Tournament last Saturday. Colby swept Amherst during the two-game, regular-season series in early February, winning the set by a combined score of 6-3 in Waterville, Maine.

“We’re trying to enjoy the journey, enjoy the process, the growth process,” Mammoths head coach Jeff Matthews said. “That’s the best part, being with each other every day. We enjoy being around each other and we want to keep this going as long as we can.”

Mules skaters Breanna Studley and Megan Martodam each pocketed three points in the pair of wins over Amherst during the regular season. Studley is second on Colby in points, as a defender, with 16 and first in goals (nine), while Martodam has eight points to date. Studley also has thrown a staggering 117 shots on goal this season for Colby. The next closest Mules skater is Courtney Schumacher with 81.

As a team, Colby has the third-best goal differential in the NESCAC (plus-28) plus the third-most goals scored (67).

The Mammoths were in a similar situation heading into the NESCAC final against the Panthers earlier this month. Amherst had gone winless against Middlebury during the regular season, but then won in a shutout on its home ice for its sixth conference crown.

Junior goalie Natalie Stott felt once the team got out of their own heads and just played their successful brand of hockey — not worrying about the opponent — was when the game started to turn in their favor.

“They’re fast, they’re experienced, I also think it’s just a lot of this aura about them,” Stott said of the Panthers. “I think that’s tough to overcome and realize ‘no, we’re not the underdogs in this situation. We’re the one-seed, this is our rink.’ Once we overcame that mentality, we realized we’re the better team, we can do this.”

Amherst will look to do the same thing against the Mules, again in the friendly confines of Orr Rink, this weekend. The Mammoths are a perfect 14-0-0 at home this season and have only allowed seven goals during those contests.

Junior Maeve Reynolds maintains the top spot in points for Amherst with 22, while the dynamic duo of Bea Flynn and Ayla Abban — two freshmen — are right behind with 20 and 19 points, respectfully. Flynn and Abban set up the Mammoth’s lone goal in the NESCAC final during the third period. The two newcomers have been stellar for Amherst all season and will likely be important factors in just how far it advances in the NCAA Tournament.

“They’ve had a great year and they’re fantastic people and very humble, great teammates,” Matthews said on his two freshmen phenoms.

A victory over Colby would push the Mammoths to the Frozen Four for the second time in three seasons. Amherst advanced in 2023 after downing the Mules, 4-0.

Last season, the Mammoths lost to Elmira in overtime, 2-1, during the quarterfinal round.

“We just got to figure out how to get ready for that next game [and] come here healthy and ready to give our best effort,” Matthews said. “If we take care of that, then we’ll be off to the Frozen Four.”

Puck drop for Saturday’s battle is set for 3 p.m.