Ephs head to Amherst for NESCAC semifinals; Webcast info

Mike Russo's Ephs dispatched one of the three NESCAC teams to beat them this season in the first round of the NESCAC Tournament when they downed Trinity 4-2 on the strength of three first half goals, punching their ticket to the NESCAC semifinals.

The third-seeded Ephs (10-4-1, 6-3-0 NESCAC) will face second-seeded Middlebury (13-2-0, 8-1-0 NESCAC) at 11:00 am at Amherst College. Fifth-seeded Bowdoin will play top-seeded Amherst at 1:30 pm.

Saturday's winners will meet at 12:00 pm on Sunday in the NESCAC championship tilt.

Amherst College is busy working on trying to provide a webcast of the semifinals and finals and should their efforts prove fruitful you will find the webcasts at D3cast.com.

The win over Trinity boosted Russo's streak of 10 or more wins in a season  to 21 straight. Impressive because Russo's Ephs notched 10 wins even though they had to replace eight starters and a goalie from last year.

The Ephs tend to score by committee this year as nine different players have stretched the net and the defense is solidifying at just the right time. Williams has posted six wins in their last eight outings. The two losses came at Middlebury 1-0 on a goal in the 84th minute and at home last Saturday 1-0 to Amherst on another late goal.

Juniors Sam Empson and Jay Ingram and senior Kit Fuderich lead the Ephs with four goals each. Sophomore goalie Andrew Graham has a goals against average of 1.06.

The Middlebury Panthers are led by juniors Brian Bush in goal and Casey Ftorek up front. Bush boasts a 10-1 record with seven shutouts and Ftorek leads NESCAC in goals scored with 11.

The Ephs are hoping that history repeats and Russo retains his magic touch in the NESCAC Tournament. The Ephs have won a record five NESCAC championships over the past seven years and have reached the final match all but once in the history of the tournament.

2007 NESCAC MEN’S SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP
First Round - Sunday, October 28 at Higher Seeds
at No. 2 Middlebury 3, No. 7 Connecticut College 0
at No. 3 Williams 4, No. 6 Trinity 2
No. 5 Bowdoin 2, at No. 4 Wesleyan 0

Semifinals - Saturday, November 3 at Amherst
No. 3 Williams vs. No. 2 Middlebury - 11:00 a.m.
No. 5 Bowdoin at No. 1 Amherst - 1:30 p.m.

Championship - Sunday, November 4 at Amherst
Semifinal winners - 12:00 p.m.