WILLIAMS, MA -- Women's soccer had its
home opener today against the Colby Mules (1-1-3). Led by Sara
Wild's two-goal and two-assist effort, the Ephs (5-1-1) walked
off the field with a 4-0 victory. Coach Michelyne Pinard said
that coming home was "such a relief." The Ephs feel "lucky
[to have] Cole Field as [their] home." It is such a "pristine
surface" and the "space is bigger, which [the Ephs] used well
today."
The Ephs got on the board early today when in the seventh
minute, Annelise Snyder
went down in the box on a hard foul. Senior Sara Wild stepped
up to take the penalty kick and sunk it in the top right corner of
the goal. After the early goal, the Ephs never looked
back. At the 16:20 mark, Wild struck again. After a Colby
defender misplayed a cross in the box, Wild came running in to boot
the ball into the net. Wild played an important role in the
third goal as well when she assisted Tyler Rainer's first
goal of the year. At the 18:42 mark, Wild passed the ball
down the middle to Rainer, who put the ball around Colby's goalie.
Colby's best opportunity came on a breakaway by Emily Moos that
ended with a pass to Samantha Merriwether. Merrriwether's
shot, however, was blocked by a Williams defender. The first
half proved very physical as the two teams accumulated 11 fouls,
six for Williams and five for Colby.
The Ephs certainly came into the second half with the momentum,
but the half was much more back-and-forth. Colby took the ball away
from the Ephs off the start, but Tyler Rainer stole the ball back
and brought it into the offensive end. Eventually, Wild took the
game into her own hands. She crossed the ball from the left side of
the goal to Kristine Nakada
on the right who snuck the ball past the goalie in the bottom
left-hand corner. Coach Pinard commented on Wild's "dominant
performance." Coach Pinard said that "all systems were working for
her today. She was physically superior to everyone on the
field, and [she] makes good decisions." She explained that
the combination of these two traits allows her to dominate.
In addition, Coach Pinard said that Wild is "one of the most
competitive people you'll find. She wanted it so badly, and
it showed." Colby's goalie Jayde Bennett came up with
some big saves including one off of a Brett Eisenhart
breakaway. She recorded eight saves on the day.
Williams goalies Laura Wann and
Julia
Schreiber combined for two saves. On the offensive end for
Colby, Alex Yorke led the attack for much of the game. After
forcing a corner, she had a decent look at the goal off of a header
but misdirected it to the right of the goal. The Ephs'
first-half effort proved enough to move them to 3-0 in the
NESCAC.
Williams' next game is against rival Amherst next
Saturday. The week break between the two games is the longest
of the season so far. Said Coach Pinard, "[We] scheduled it
this way on purpose. [We] want time to prepare for Amherst. [It
gives us time] to recover and work on some things that have come
up, [so] we'll be ready to go." The game will be played at
1:30.
