Ephs set to host NCAA Sectional; webcast, broadcast info
Ana Sani '08
Western Connecticut blanks Hamilton 1-0, advances to NCAA Final Four
WILLIAMSTOWN, MA- In yesterday's Sweet 16 game Western
Connecticut saw their one-goal lead slip away with less than two
minutes remaining in regulation before sealing a victory in
overtime against Worcester State. Today the Colonials saw a
few defensive slip-ups in the final fifteen minutes of play but
avoided overtime and held on to defeat Hamilton College by a score
of 1-0. Western Connecticut advances to the Final Four in
Orlando, Florida and will play Wheaton (Ill.).
Western Connecticut was tentative early on, and head coach Joe
Mingachos contributes the sloppy play of the first twenty minutes
to nervous energy. "I think it was the nerves that hit us in
the beginning and we were a little overexcited, " he said. "We knew
coming in to this game that Hamilton was a quality team and we
would have to play a near perfect game. I'm just happy we got
the job done."
Hamilton could not take advantage of the Colonial's poor play
early on, and when Western began to play quality soccer midway into
the first period, their entire offensive attack shut down.
The Continentals mustered four shots on goal in ninety minutes,
while Western's offense really turned on the heat. Mingachos'
team took thirteen shots in the first half, and five in the second,
to put intense pressure on the Hamilton
defense.
It was Molly Desjarlais who found the back of the net for the
Colonials at the 27:54 mark. Angela Wozinak laced the ball to
the far right post where both Desjarlais and teammate and Kim
Crayco waited to locate the ball. Crayco's foot found the
ball but kicked it up in the air, and Wozinak capitalized on the
deflection by heading the ball into the opposite corner for the 1-0
lead.
Hamilton thought they had tied the game with fifteen minutes
left in the period off a Anne Graveley corner kick. The kick
appeared to be heading out of bounds, when suddenly the Hamilton
fans and bench reacted as the ball was in the back corner of the
net. The referee initially signaled that it was a goal, but
following a conference with the assistant referees, he ruled no
goal arguing that the ball had rolled in through a hole in the
net.
The rest of the game Western Connecticut dominated time on the
ball, and created great opportunities to score. Had
Hamilton's Caitlin McGilley not been at net, the score would have
certainly been more lopsided than it was. McGilley played a
tremendous game, tallying nine saves in ninety minutes of
play. Despite a slight breakdown in the final minutes,
Western Connecticut kept Hamilton out of the penalty box to hold on
for a win.
At the end of the game, Mingachos had difficulty finding words to
describe how he felt over his team's place in the Final Four and
said, "I have no idea what to expect. This is really
unchartered waters for us. I'm just excited." Mingachos
will wade into some unchartered waters himself, as he promised his
girls to shave his head if they advanced to the Final Four this
weekend.
Western Connecticut outlasts Worcester State in OT,
2-1
WILLIAMSTOWN, MA – The first time Western Connecticut and
Worcester State played this season the outcome was determined in 90
minutes with Western Connecticut prevailing 2-0, but today it took
13:11 minutes longer for Western Connecticut to down Worcester
State, 2-1.
Western Connecticut opened the contest by controlling the
midfield, mostly by the dominant play of sophomore midfielder
Cassie Barbaresi, who seemed to be everywhere and when she was in
the attacking third she had the ball at her feet. "Barbaresi is the
best player I've seen in Div, III," said Worcester State Matt Kagan
validating the performance by Barbaresi.
The first real threat of the game came when the Colonials' Angela
Wozniak fired a shot from outside box on the left to the far post
that required Erin Doherty to dive to her left to keep out of the
goal. A Colonials' direct kick by Caitlin Boyle moments later,
flicked on by Catherine Nathans also tested Doherty but she kept
the ball out of the net again with a quick reaction.
Worcester State made a few runs into the attacking third of the
field, but the Lancers had trouble getting testing shots on the
Colonials' Jenna Cappellieri.
Western Connecticut notched the first goal of the contest at 34:06
when Barbaresi lofted a corner kick from the right of Doherty
across the goalmouth and past the fingertips of Doherty to the feet
of Molly Desljarlais who was able to get the ball to Nathans who
beat Doherty.
Just before the first half ended the Lancers made one last run at
the goal, but Cappellieri was up to the task of stopping a shot
from the top of the box by Kelsey Irish. Irish tried to go up high
and under the bar, but Cappellieri was able to elevate and snare
the shot as the horn went off ending the half.
The second half started off slowly as each team had trouble
building an attack and again it was Barbaresi who shook things up.
Her direct kick from about 35 yards out to the right of Doherty was
just punched up and over the bar by a leaping Doherty to keep the
score 1-0 in favor of Western Connecticut.
As the second half wore on the Lancers began to have more and more
success with the long ball and Tiffany Rotatori was almost sprung
at 85:07 when her right footed shot from Cappellieri's left was two
feet wide of the right post and crashed into the side netting.
Refusing to be denied, Rotatori was back a little over three
minutes later to net the equalizer as she took a pass from
Stephanie Demake down the left side of the box and ripped a left
footer back across the goal to beat Cappellieri to knot the score
at 1 at 88:31.
The score remained tied at one at the end of regulation and both
teams managed one shot each in the first overtime session. Early in
the second OT stanza Western Connecticut's Megan Staropoli found
sophomore midfielder Amy Corchard just inside the box on the right
with a pass in the 104th minute and Corchard scored the
game-winning goal that boosted the Colonials into an Elite Eight
game tomorrow vs. Hamilton College.
"I was wide open and I was saying to myself, please give me the
ball, I know I will score," said Amy Corchard. Corchard fired the
Staropoli pass just inside the far left post to send the Colonials
on to the Sectional Finals on Sunday afternoon at 1:00 pm.
"A lot of teams would have folded giving up a late goal like we
did, but our kids were great about getting together to get this
done – we didn't even have to say anything to them," said
Western head coach Joe Mingachos.
The 2-1 win by Western Connecticut upped the Colonials' record to
20-2-1 on the year, while the Lancers ended their season at
16-6.
Looking ahead to tomorrow's match up with Hamilton, a 2-1 winner
over host Williams, Mingachos said, "It's going to be a very
difficult match for us against a Hamilton team that came in here
and beat a good Williams team. It will be interesting to see how we
respond mentally and physically after today's match."
Hamilton ousts Williams, 2-1
WILLIAMSTOWN, MA- The sixth ranked team in the country, and
sectional host, Williams College (17-1-0) saw their undefeated
season and bid for their first NCAA Championship end after a 2-1
loss to eighth-ranked Hamilton College (16-1-2). The
Continentals will face the winner of Western Connecticut and
Worcester State in the Elite 8 tomorrow at noon to battle for a
spot in the Final Four and a trip to Orlando, Florida.
Williams had advanced to today's match up after a first round bye
and a second round 1-0 victory over Springfield College.
Hamilton had a tougher road to the Sweet 16, defeating Moravian
College by a score of 2-0 and advancing past Tufts University 4-3
in penalty kicks.
Williams opened the game strong by aggressively attacking the
Hamilton defense and had many opportunities to grab momentum and
take an early lead. The Ephs' defense remained solid in
the opening minutes of play. Hamilton only managed four shots
in the first period, and was out shot by a six-shot margin, but the
Continentals knew how to capitalize when it counted.
With less than five minutes left in the first half, Megan
Brousseau cleared the ball out of Hamilton's half of the field and
found teammate Erica Dressler racing downfield. The Hamilton
forward collected the ball and adeptly separated herself from a
Williams defender before carefully lacing a hard ball on the ground
to the far right back of the net past a diving keeper.
Hamilton stunned the home crowd after taking a 2-0 lead at the
56:33 mark. Continental Anne Graveley took the ball at
midfield and found herself one on one in a foot race against a
Williams defender. Graveley managed to beat the opposition on
the right side of the net, and got off a well-placed kick to the
far left post that found the back corner.
Playing behind for only the third time in eighteen games, and
giving up more than one goal in any game all season, Williams
needed to mount an impressive comeback for the victory.
The Ephs got an energy boost a minute after Hamilton's second goal,
when a player got fouled inside the penalty box. Senior
captain Kaolin McEvoy calmly scored, putting her squad in a
position to tie the game with plenty of time left in
regulation. The Ephs continued to attack the goal the rest of
the half, but even with many open shots on goal, Hamilton held on
to win.
Lauren Sinnenberg suffered her first loss of the season for the
Ephs. Hamilton keeper Caitlin McGilley played an impressive
game at net, tallying eight saves that kept Williams to only one
goal.
WILLIAMSTOWN, MA — Williams College will host a sectional
round of the 2007 NCAA Div. III Women’s Soccer Tournament
this Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 17-18, at Cole Field.
Williams (17-0-0) will face-off against Hamilton College (15-1-2)
Saturday at 11 a.m. At 1:30 p.m., or 30 minutes after the
completion of game one, Worcester State (16-5) will battle Western
Connecticut State (19-2-1).
“We are incredibly excited about hosting a Sectional
Final,” Williams head coach Michelyne Pinard said. “The
kids have worked hard to be in this situation, but we all recognize
that the three teams coming here this weekend are among the most
competitive in the country.
“Our goal this weekend is to play the best soccer we can
possibly play and let the chips fall where they may. Hopefully we
get the results and this special group of young women get another
week to play together.”
Ticket prices for each game are $6 for adults, $3 for students and
senior citizens and $2 for children between the ages of 3 and 12.
Children 2 and under will be admitted free.
Saturday’s two winners will meet Sunday at 1 p.m. for the
sectional championship and a trip to Orlando, Fla. (site of the
2007 NCAA Championships).
All three games will be webcast by D3cast.com. Click on this link
to access the webcasts: http://d3cast.com/index.php
All three games will also be offered free on TEAMLINE. On TEAMLINE
you will get the Williams broadcast of the game. You can listen
over your telephone or over the Internet. To listen on the Internet
go to the front page of Williams Athletics:
http://williams.prestosports.com/landing/index
Click on the TEAMLINE logo at the bottom of the page. The Eph
access code is: 0126. To listen on your telephone dial
1-800-846-4700 and follow the prompts. Eph access code is 0126.
Williams comes into the weekend unbeaten and having allowed only
four goals in 17 games this season. Sophomore goalkeeper Lauren
Sinnenberg is 17-0-0 with a 0.19 goals against average and a
sparkling .942 save percentage.
The Ephs had five members selected First Team All-NESCAC last
week, including 2007 NESCAC Player of the Year Gabrielle Woodson.
Woodson, a junior forward, leads Williams with 14 goals and 7
assists for 35 points. Sophomore forward Brianna Wolfson (10 goals,
10 assists), senior midfielder Kaolin McEvoy and junior back
Caitlin Colesanti join Sinnenberg and Woodson on the First
Team.
The 15-1-2 Continentals set a school record this year with 53
goals scored. Their attack is led by junior Erica Dressler’s
36 points (13 goals, 10 assists). Senior Nicole Tetreault has 10
goals and 4 assists, while first-year Anne Groveley has made an
immediate impact with 9 goals and 4 assists (22 points).
Hamilton has allowed only 10 goals all season, with goalkeeper
Caitlin McGilley has a 0.58 goals against average and a .917 save
percentage.
In Saturday’s second game, Worcester State (16-5-0) will
face Western Connecticut State (19-2-1) at 1:30 or 30 minutes after
the conclusion of game one.
WConn has outscored its opponents 65-13 this season en route to a
Little East Conference championship. Junior Catherine Nathans paces
the WConn attack with 39 points (16 goals, 7 assists). Senior Kim
Crayco is second on the team with 14 goals and sophomore Cassie
Barbaresi has 28 points (7 goals, 14 assists).
Senior goalkeeper Jenna Cappellieri has compiled a 0.53 GAA and a
.889 save percentage.
Worcester State (16-5-0) has outscored its opponents 46-20 this
season. The Lancers are led by senior Tiffany Rotatori’s 12
goals and classmate Kelsey Irish’s eight goals. Goalkeeper
Erin Doherty has a 0.93 goals against average and a .808 save
percentage.
