NESCAC Tournament; webcast information

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Box Score

WILLIAMSTOWN, MA – When Bowdoin and Tufts met in the regular season Medford, MA, the Polar Bears struggled to generate offense and the Jumbos posted a 4-1 win. The Bowdoin tally came via a Tufts' own goal.

Today on Cole Field at Williams College Bowdoin came out and asserted itself in the opening 10 minutes of play but still had to fight back from an early a 1-0 deficit to force overtime and a shootout to advance to tomorrow's NESCAC Championship game vs. host Williams at noon.

This time Tufts had just a plus two margin in shots, 13-11, over Bowdoin.

Tufts notched the first goal of the contest at 13:27 moments after the Jumbos had cleaned up a loose corner kick by Bowdoin.

The Jumbo's Fanna Gamal streaked into the left side of the box and crossed a beautiful ball to the far post where Cara Cadigan elevated and headed the ball down just under the left hand of Bowdoin goalie Katherine Popoff.

Bowdoin responded by turning up the pressure on offense and managed to set up six corner opportunities to none for the Jumbos in the opening half, but the Polar bears were unable to net a goal.

Tufts took a 1-0 lead into the break.

Bowdoin climbed right back into the game just over six minutes into the second half when after a blistering shot by Ann Zeigler from the left of Tufts' goalie Kate Minnehan resulted in a wild scramble in front of the goal. Several players on both teams got a piece of the ball and eventually the ball trickled to the right foot of Molly Duffy who tucked it inside the right post to tie the score at one at 51:10.

Bowdoin came knocking again at 67:04 when Zeigler was led into the box on the left, but her left-footed blast went up over the crossbar. 

Tufts appeared to be ready to take the lead at 77:34 when a Bowdoin player somehow got a foot on a Tufts shot at the goal line and deflected the ball back out of the box.

Tufts' Cara Cadigan went into the left side of the box with a defender on her at 82:06 and fired a low shot back across the goal that Katherine Popoff was able to dive and corral.

The first overtime session was uneventful and neither team could muster a shot.

In the second overtime stanza an alert Kate Minnehan was able to dive and prevent a looming own goal just 16 seconds in.

The Jumbos again sent Cadigan through the backline with a pretty pass, but Popoff was just able to get there in time to smother the chance at 105:51.

Bowdoin tested Kate Minnehan at 108:38 when Dana Riker crossed the ball to Christina Aceto who one-timed a hard shot on goal that Minnehan controlled.

Bowdoin's Katherine Popoff was called on to make one last save in the OT. Off a crossed ball Popoff came off her line and deflected a blast from the top of the box off her upper body to a defender who managed a booming clear.

Bowdoin prevailed 4-2 in the PK shootout with Katherine Popoff making one save, a Tufts player hitting the post and all four Polar Bears converting.

On the day Bowdoin's Popoff made 7 saves and Tufts' Minnehan made 8 saves.

"We prepared a little better for Tufts today than we did in the regular season," said Bowdoin head coach Maren Rojas. "I think the focus, concentration and intensity we showed all week and the enthusiasm we brought today showed we are committed to the hard work necessary to reach our team goals."
 
With the tie both teams now have identical 12-3-1 records.

PK Shootout
Bowdoin – Ann Zeigler – Good
Tufts – Joelle Emery – Good
Bowdoin – Dana Riker – Good
Tufts – Fanna Gamal – stopped by Popoff
Bowdoin – Lynne Tempest -- Good
Tufts – Geneva DeGregorio – Good
Bowdoin – Katherine Whitley – Good
Tufts – Rebecca Abbott – off left post

 

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Box Score

WILLIAMSTOWN, MA- Top seeded Williams College (15-0-0) defeated sixth seeded Middlebury College (9-5-2), 4-1, in the NESCAC semifinals hosted by Williams College.  Ephs forwards Brianna Wolfson and Gabrielle Woodson each scored two goals en route to the victory, while Caitlin Parker notched the lone goal for the Panthers. 

Williams and Middlebury faced off in the regular season on October 13.  The Ephs defeated the Panthers by a score of 4-0, but Middlebury battled Williams to a stalemate until the 55th minute before the Ephs broke the game open with four goals in a 14:23 span.  This afternoon’s match up was another very physical battle, as both emotionally charged teams combined for 20 total fouls.  This
time Williams did not wait long before getting on the scoreboard though.  

At the 5:38 mark, Wolfson scored the first of her two goals.  After diverting a Panthers defender and causing Middlebury’s keeper to come out of net, Wolfson kicked a line drive shot to the far right post past the charging keeper to give the Ephs the early lead.  Less than twenty minutes later Wolfson tallied her second goal off a cross from Sara Wild.  Wild crossed the ball from the right side of the field to Wolfson who, playing the ball of a bounce, laced a hard ground ball into the net for a 2-0 lead.

Williams set the pace early in the second half as well, tallying their third goal just three minutes into the second period.  Woodson scored the first of her two goals off a breakaway.  Woodson and Wolfson notched the Ephs final goal off one of their trademark give and go plays.  Both players finished the game with two goal and an assist.  

It looked as though Williams would shut out Middlebury for the second time this season, but the Panthers would not back down and managed to avoid the shutout with five minutes left in play. Caitlin Parker kicked a perfectly placed line drive from outside the penalty box that landed in the upper right corner to bring the final score to 4-1.

Ephs keeper Lauren Sinnenberg gave up only her third goal of the entire season, and recorded 4 saves.  The Panthers' keeper, Lauryn Torch, notched four saves in ninety minutes of play.  

Williams advances to the finals of the NESCAC tournament and will play the winner of the Bowdoin/Tufts game tomorrow at 12:00 noon.

Williams hosting NESCAC tournament

Michelyne Pinard’s top-seeded Williams College Ephs (14-0-0) will host the 2007 NESCAC Tournament semifinals and final this weekend at Cole Field in Williamstown.  It will be the second time Williams has been the host for the semifinals and final, the first time since 2001.

Saturday first semifinal will pit the Ephs (9-0 in the NESCAC this season) against sixth-seeded Middlebury at 11 a.m. Saturday’s second semifinal finds fourth-seeded Bowdoin facing second-seeded Tufts at 1:30 p.m.

The winners will face one another in Sunday’s championship game, which begins at noon. Williams has one NESCAC title to its credit (2004) while Middlebury has two (2000, 2006) and Tufts one (2002).

All three games this weekend can been seen for free on the web. Check out D3cast.com for more details.

The Ephs defeated Middlebury, 4-0, on Oct. 13. Bowdoin defeated Tufts, 2-1, on Oct. 6.
Williams has mixed a talented young first-year and sophomore class with veteran upperclassmen en route to setting a school record for wins in the regular season (14). The Ephs have outscored opponents 40-3 this season.

The defense has been anchored by sophomore goalkeeper Lauren Sinnenberg, who has compiled a 0.16 goals against average and a .953 save percentage while playing all but 111 minutes in 2007.
Of course, the defense in front of her has been strong, with junior back Caitlin Colesanti and first-year sweeper Kara Duggan leading the way. The Ephs midfield is anchored by seniors Kaolin McEvoy and Alexa Herlach.

Williams potent offensive attack has many, many contributors (11 different players have scored) but junior forward Gabrielle Woodson led the team with 26 points (11 goals, 4 assists) and sophomore Brianna Wolfson was not far behind with 33 points (7 goals, 8 assists).

2007 NESCAC WOMEN’S SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP
First Round - Sunday, October 28 at Higher Seeds
at No. 2 Tufts 6, No. 7 Connecticut College 0
No. 6 Middlebury 1, at No. 3 Amherst 0
at No. 4 Bowdoin 2, No. 5 Trinity 0

Semifinals - Saturday, November 3 at Williams
No. 6 Middlebury at No. 1 Williams - 11:00 a.m.
No. 4 Bowdoin vs. No. 2 Tufts - 1:30 p.m.

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