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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. - The Williams College men's soccer team
overcame a one point halftime deficit with three unanswered scores,
two of which came in the games final five minutes, to defeat
visiting No. 5 seed Bates College 3-1 in the quarterfinals of the
NESCAC Tournament Sunday.
The win improves the Ephs to 8-5-2 and earns them the right to
play at least one more game, while the loss ends the Bates season
at 9-6.
"I am very pleased with how we came out and finally scored some
goals." Remarked Williams head coach Mike Russo, "We really took
our play to another level, and were able to respond to adversity.
We really played with great intensity today."
Facing the prospect of an early November season finale, the Ephs
played possessed soccer as they dominated the early goings of the
win-to-survive match up. The Bobcats found themselves reeling as
the Ephs drove play towards their net and dominated possession,
allowing them only brief excursions out of their end.
However, it was on one such reprieve that Bates notched an
against the play score and took the 1-0 lead. The rare early foray
out of their end benefited from a fortuitous long pass that managed
to navigate the legs of the Eph defense and find a wide open Chris
Okano who knocked it past Eph keeper Andrew Graham (1 save) in the
13th minute.
Despite the score, the Ephs didn't seem to miss a beat as they
quickly regained their aggressive form and continued to exert
consistent pressure on the Bobcat defense. However, the zealous
Williams attack was hamstrung by a rash of offside penalties (5 in
the first half alone, 9 total on the game), many of which nullified
excellent scoring opportunities.
Nevertheless, the Ephs nearly evened things up just before the
half, when a perfectly placed cross from Alex Kramer found Jay
Ingram in stride right in front of the Panther net, but an
aggressive move by stellar Bates Keeper Greg Watts (nine saves)
pushed the shot wide.
The second half began much like the first half, as the Ephs once
again took control. The redoubled efforts from the Ephs nearly
broke the Bobcats several times in the second half's first 15
minutes, but narrow misses maintained the Bates advantage. Will
Whiston, Sam Empson, Pierre Meloty-Kapella and Peter Gordon all
featured prominently in the second half push.
However, it seemed only matter of time before the Ephs would
make good as the Bates faithful began a plea of "Timeout! Timeout!"
to try to refocus their team.
And, in a sequence that no words could do justice, the Ephs
unloaded no less then four shots in twenty seconds, each of which
appeared poised to go in, before Empson collected the ball and drew
a hard tackle in the box earning the penalty kick. Empson fired a
low shot to the corner that slipped past the outstretched hands of
Watts and tied things back up at 1-1 in the 67th minute.
From there the game evolved into a slugfest as each team
franticly fought to prolong their season. But it would be the Ephs
who would eventually get a feel for the chaos, when Empson and
Gordon connected for one of the seasons most sensational goals, at
the biggest possible time.
With just under five minutes remaining, Empson launched a
bending pass into the heart of the Bates defense only to find a
leaping Gordon who headed it over the top of Watts, giving the Ephs
their first lead at 2-0.
Gordon wasn't done yet, as he would be on the receiving end of a
Meloty-Kapella cross less than two minutes later which he promptly
converted to add some insurance and seal the 3-1 victory for the
Ephs.
"We were down 1-0 at half, and we just knew what we had to do."
remarked Eph senior Peter Gordon. "It was a complete team effort."
The Ephs churned out an astronomical 18 shots in the second half
in their offensive ouburst.
Williams willl look to keep it going next Saturday in the NESCAC
semifinals when they face top-seeded Middlebury at Middlebury at 11
a.m. Amherst and Trinity will meet in the other semifinal at 1:30
p.m. Saturday's winners will meet for the NESCAC Championship
Sunday at 12 p.m.
