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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. - The Williams College men's soccer team
surrendered the games lone goal just 32 seconds into the first
half, and the Middlebury Panthers went on to spoil Senior Day and
the Ephs regular season finale 1-0 Friday afternoon.
The loss perpetuates a disappointing second half of the season
for the Ephs, who fall to 7-5-2 (4-4-1 NESCAC) after starting the
season 7-2. Middlebury improves to 11-1-2, and earns the #1 seed in
the NESCAC tournament.
Statistically, the two teams mirrored each other in shots
(Williams: 10, Middlebury: 11) and saves (Williams: 3, Middlebury:
4), but the game was more a tale of two halves rather than a
stalemate.
The Panthers got their early score when a blitzkrieg-like attack
on the games opening possession ultimately exposed the Ephs
defense, when a Tyler Macnee run culminated in a perfect through
pass to Andrew Banadda who beat Eph keeper Andrew Graham one-on-one
for the early 1-0 advantage.
The early goal propped up a Panther team that was otherwise
matched, if not overwhelmed - at times, by a desperate Eph team.
The Ephs nearly evened it up in the 27th minute when
Empson found Pierre Meloty-Kapella streaking towards the Panther
net, but his shot from 15 yards just sailed over the crossbar.
Overall however, Middlebury didn't make life easy for the
Williams in the first half as they consistently harassed the
midfield, obstructed Eph passing lanes, and dominated loose balls.
But the Ephs repaid the favor in the second half, as play
shifted towards the Middlebury goal and Williams controlled
possession. This control produced several great scoring chances for
the Ephs, including a very near miss with just 15 minutes remaining
when a through-ball traversed the Panther box unimpeded only to be
corralled by Meloty-Kapella who promptly crossed it back into the
box and towards the Eph offense. Unfortunately, Gaston Kellys
header was narrowly turned aside by the cross bar.
Despite the opportunities, Williams could never erase the
deficit and fell to Middlebury 1-0.
"As much as I hate to say this, I have too. We are a little
unlucky." remarked Eph coach Mike Russo. "We had a couple really
near misses -- a few that went off the bar but, ultimately, if the
other team can beat us we find a way to beat ourselves. We have one
more chance to get it done, hopefully we will rise to the
occasion."
Despite the loss the Ephs managed to earn home field advantage
in the first round of the conference tournament. The twist of fate
provides Eph seniors Daniel Curbelo-Zeidman, Sam Denton-Schnider,
Brian Dolezal, Sam Empson, Peter Gordon, Chris Gocksch, Jay Ingram,
and Alex Kramer at least one more chance to make good on their home
field.
The 4th seeded Ephs will face off against
5th seeded Bates at 12:00 PM, Sunday November
2nd at Cole Field.
