Boxscore
AMHERST, MA - Williams men's soccer fell 1-0 to Trinity today in a back-and-forth NESCAC semifinal. Trinity will now face-off with the winner of this afternoon's showdown between Middlebury and Amherst.
The Ephs, who entered the weekend ranked fifth in the region, now have a 9-5-2 overall record, while the Bantams sit at 10-4-2. Williams will now await word as to whether the team receives an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.
The teams looked to be on even terms throughout the game, as neither team truly outpossessed the other or generated a significant chance in the first 80 minutes. Trinity keeper Grant Schonberg and Williams keeper Than Finan both controlled their defenses effectively and came off their lines to claim several crosses; while each was called on to make several saves, they were not stretched.
That changed in the 81st minute off a Trinity corner kick from the right side. The corner found Joe Buckley, who struck the ball to Finan's right. The keeper dove to make the save, but the rebound slipped out in front of him into the six. Bantam Dan Mayernick was there to take advantage; he poked the ball past Finan for his ninth goal of the year, giving Trinity a 1-0 lead.
The Ephs pressed forward for the final 10 minutes, but the team was unable to break through Schonberg's back line. Mayernick's goal had proved decisive, and Trinity walked away with the victory.
Williams outshot Trinity 18-8 on the match. Schonberg stopped all five of the Ephs' opportunities that made it on net, while Finan finished with three saves.
"I can't fault the boys for lack of commitment and effort toady - it was there," Mike Russo, Williams head coach, said. "I thought overall we played well. Again, our inability to convert goalscoring opportunities came back to haunt us. I thought after last week against Tufts we'd get a couple, but we didnt. We created some, but they got a restart goal with just under 10 to play and that was the game.
"I thought defensively we played very solidly," he added. "We did create some things when we had the ball. We just lacked the pure goalscorer this year, and it came back to haunt us."
