by Rachel Rosten
Box Score
Photo
Gallery
WILLIAMSTOWN, MA.-
As the final seconds began to tick off the scoreboard clock, tears
began to fall for what could have been. After entering the
NCAA Championships with an undefeated record and a NESCAC
championship in the books, Williams women's soccer had high hopes
to advance deep into the tournament and they had certainly not
thought, or wanted, their season to end as it did today.
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 as always. 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.
Comeback is certainly not a word that has been in Williams'
vocabulary this season, but 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 just that. The Ephs
got an energy boost a minute after Hamilton's second goal, when a
Williams player was fouled inside the penalty box. Senior
captain Kaolin McEvoy calmly scored on the penalty kick, putting
her squad in a position to tie the game with ample time remaining
in regulation. The Ephs continued to attack the goal the rest
of the half, but even with many open shots on goal, Hamilton's
defensive efforts proved too strong.
"Hamilton has tremendous fire, " said McEvoy. "They
counterattack well, match for match, and they stick to their game
plan very well. We have a lot of respect for their team."
Lauren Sinnenberg suffered her first loss of the season for the
Ephs, finishing the season with a 17-1-0 record. Hamilton
keeper Caitlin McGilley played an impressive game at net, tallying
eight saves that kept Williams' goals to just one.
Head coach Michelyne Pinard was visibly proud of her team's
accomplishments this season, hugging and comforting each of her
player's individually. McEvoy also took great pride in the
teammates she had led this season, saying, "I couldn't be more
proud of this team. We've made NESCAC history by being the
number one seed and winning the tournament. We've made
program history because we had never hosted before this year.
We have trained nine months for this season and I am so proud of
every single individual on this team."
