Ephs take aim at second straight NESCAC championship
Ephs earn 2008 NESCAC title with 3-2 overtime win over Amherst
WILLIAMSTOWN, MA — Junior Sarah Walmsley placed a shot off
the outstretched hands of Amherst College keeper Allie Horwitz just
2 minutes and 38 seconds into overtime Sunday, lifting Williams
College to the 2008 NESCAC Tournament Championship.
Walmsley’s goal gave the top-seeded Ephs their second
straight NESCAC title, and Williams became the first team in NESCAC
Tournament history to win back-to-back championships.
Williams improved to 16-0-1 on the season, while the Lord Jeffs
fell to 11-2-3.
Amherst absorbed a tremendous opening 20 minutes from Williams to
score twice within a 8:30 span and take a 2-1 lead into halftime.
Much like the two teams first meeting on Oct. 25 — it ended
in a 1-1 tie — the Ephs spent most of the second half working
to knot the game at two.
That moment did not come until 4:01 remained. Williams senior
Gabrielle Woodson found herself with the ball in the box off a
scramble in front of the net and tapped a shot into the lower
left-corner that just eluded Horwitz and two Lord Jeff defenders.
It was Woodson’s team-leading 12th goal of the season.
The overtime lasted just over two minutes. Woodson played a ball
from the top of the box toward Walmsley. The ball glanced off
Amherst defender Jill Kochanek and landed at the feet of the Eph
junior, who turned and fired a shot to the lower right-corner. A
diving Horwitz was able to get a hand on the ball, but not enough
to deflect it out of the goal.
Williams held a 26-16 shot advantage in the contest, while Amherst
took four corner kicks to the Ephs’ three. Horwitz finished
with eight saves for the Lord Jeffs, while Eph keeper Lauren
Sinnenberg stopped seven shots.
Williams came out strong and scored just 17:29 into the contest on
junior Brianna Wolfson’s fifth goal of the tournament.
However, Amherst countered just over five minutes later on a
rebound strike from junior Meg Murphy. Sophomore Kyla Woodhouse
played a ball in from the right wing and Murphy was there to pounce
on the opportunity, volleying a hard shot past Sinnenberg for her
11th goal of the season.
The equalizer energized an Amherst team that had faced constant
pressure up to that point, and swung momentum in the Jeffs favor.
It was just over eight minutes later before that momentum capped
with another Amherst score. Murphy found sophomore Jackie Hirsch
this time for a composed shot to the lower left corner from just
eight yards out.
The NESCAC championship was the third for Williams. The Ephs also
won in 2004 and 2007.
Murphy's goal lifts Amherst past Middlebury, 1-0, in NESCAC semifinals
WILLIAMSTOWN, MA – Junior Meg Murphy scored with 12 minutes and 47 seconds left Saturday to break a scoreless tie and send second-seeded Amherst to a 1-0 win over third-seeded Middlebury in the NESCAC semifinals.
The Jeffs (11-1-3) advanced to the NESCAC championship game Sunday at noon, where they will face top-seeded Williams (15-0-1), the defending NESCAC champions. Amherst and Williams tied, 1-1, in their regular season meeting Oct, 25.
Saturday’s semifinal was scoreless until the 78th minute. Murphy received a pass from teammate Jess Wall 22 yards out on the left side. She cut back to the center, then fired a shot into the lower-left corner of the net out of the reach of Middlebury keeper Lauryn Torch. It was Murphy’s team-leading 11th goal of the season.
Middlebury dropped to 8-6-2.
After the game’s opening 10 minutes, Amherst took control, outshooting the Panthers 8-1 in the first half and 14-8 overall. The Jeffs had six corner kicks over the first 45 minutes to Middlebury’s one but thanks to Torch and her ‘mates in the back, found themselves in a scoreless tie at halftime.
The play in the second half was more back and forth. Middlebury appeared to take the lead with 25 minutes to go in the contest when Anne Ford’s rocket from the right side of the box glanced off the hands of diving Amherst keeper Allie Horwitz. Middlebury’s Paola Cabonargi collected the rebound and the far post and one-touched the ball into the goal but she was called offsides on the rebound and the score was nullified.
After Murphy’s goal, Middlebury pressed over the final 10 minutes, but the Amherst back, led by senior Mary Marvel, held off its advances to close out the win.
Horwitz finished with four saves for the Jeffs, while Torch made three for Middlebury.
Ephs top Bowdoin in first semifinal, 6-1
WILLIAMSTOWN, MA – Junior Brianna Wolfson scored three
times Saturday to help top-seeded Williams College to a 6-1 victory
over fifth-seeded Bowdoin in the semifinals of the NESCAC
Tournament at Cole Field.
Williams (15-0-1) advances to Sunday’s NESCAC championship
game against the winner of Saturday’s second semifinal
between second-seeded Amherst and third-seeded Middlebury.
Williams, the defending NESCAC champions, tied a single-game
NESCAC Tournament record with its six-goal output. Wolfson also
tied a single-game tournament record with her hat trick.
Bowdoin falls to 7-5-4 overall.
The Ephs outshot Bowdoin 21-9 and took a 1-0 lead just one minute
and 46 seconds into the contest when midfielder Jackie Russo sent a
long through ball down the middle of the field. Wolfson ran onto
it, dribbled twice and slipped a shot underneath Polar Bear keeper
Kelly Thomas and into the lower left-corner of the goal. It was the
second fastest goal to start a game in NESCAC Tournament
history.
Just under 15 minutes later, Russo and Wolfson teamed up again,
producing a carbon copy of the first goal. Only 52 seconds later,
Williams sophomore Sara Wild scored off an assist from Gabrielle
Woodson for a 3-0 lead with 27:40 remaining in the half.
Bowdoin did not go away, countering with a score of its own with
10:08 left in the half. Ellery Gould played a ball back to freshman
Anna Tachau at the top of the 18 and Tachau’s shot snuck in
under the crossbar to cut the Bowdoin deficit to 3-1.
Wolfson’s third goal came out of a goal-mouth scramble only
1:26 into the second stanza and made it 4-1.
Thomas made four saves in goal for Bowdoin. Lauren Sinnenberg made
two for Williams.
Williams hosting NESCAC Tournament semifinals and
championship
Michelyne Pinard’s top-seeded Williams College Ephs (14-0-1)
will host the 2008 NESCAC Tournament semifinals and championship
this weekend at Cole Field in Williamstown. It will be the
third time Williams has been the host for the semifinals and final.
The two previous times were 2001 and 2007.
The Ephs are the defending NESCAC Tournament champions.
Saturday first semifinal will pit the Ephs (8-0-1 in the NESCAC
this season) against fifth-seeded Bowdoin at 11 a.m.
Saturday’s second semifinal finds second-seeded Amherst
facing third-seeded Middlebury at 1:30 p.m.
“It is going to be an incredibly competitive four team
tournament,” Pinard said. “We are glad that
we are home, and it’s going to be a great three games of
soccer, and we hope to be playing in two of them.”
The winners will face one another in Sunday’s championship
game, which begins at noon. Williams has two NESCAC titles to its
credit (2004, 2007) as does Middlebury (2000, 2006) and Amherst
(2001, 2003).
All three games this weekend can be heard on TEAMLINE
for a fee.
The Ephs defeated Bowdoin, 4-0, on Sept.20. Amherst defeated
Middlebury, 4-1, on Sept. 13.
Williams has mixed a talented young first-year class with the
veterans en route to its second straight unbeaten regular season.
Amherst and Williams tied, 1-1, on Oct. 25. The Ephs have outscored
opponents 39-6 this season.
The defense has been anchored by sophomore goalkeeper Lauren
Sinnenberg, who has compiled a 0.33 goals against average and a
.879 save percentage while playing all but 289 minutes in 2008.
Of course, the defense in front of her has been strong, with
senior back Caitlin Colesanti and sophomore Kara Duggan leading the
way. Williams has 10 shutouts in 15 games entering the tournament.
The Ephs midfield is anchored by junior Brianna Wolfson and
first-year Nicole Stenquist.
Williams potent offensive attack has many, many contributors (11
different players have scored) but senior forward Gabrielle Woodson
led the team with 25 points (10 goals, 5 assists) and junior
Brianna Wolfson was not far behind with 19 points (6 goals, 7
assists). Sophomore Sara Wild has 16 points (6 goals, 4 assists).
Click Here
for NESCAC preview of tournament.
2008 NESCAC WOMEN’S SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP
Semifinals - Saturday, November 8 at Williams
Williams 6, Bowdoin 1
Amherst 1, Middlebury 0
Championship - Sunday, November 9 at
Williams
Williams 3, Amherst 2 (OT)
