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Williamstown, MA - No. 14 Williams men's soccer started NESCAC play today with a 3-0 victory over conference newcomer Hamilton. Junior goalkeeper Than Finan earned the shutout in his first start of the year, and three different Ephs scored in the team's home opener, with two goals coming off of restarts.
Playing on the field hockey turf at Renzie Lamb Field, both teams had some trouble keeping their feet throughout the game, and the surface at times made ball control difficult.
Williams opened the game controlling the play, creating several opportunities and taking the first shot on goal only two minutes in. The Ephs then broke through in the 8th minute. Senior striker Dan Morrisroe received the ball just beyond the midfield circle and turned before laying the ball off to sophomore User Kushaina, who was making an angled run across the box from left to right. Kushaina received the ball at the top right of the box, took a touch and saw Hamilton keeper Eric Boole coming off his line. He promptly lobbed the ball over the keeper into the left corner of the net to give the Ephs a 1-0 lead.
The rest of the half saw Williams with slightly more possession than Hamilton, though Hamilton did control play for several minutes at a time. Then, with less then two minutes to play in the first half, senior co-captain Nick Pugliese received the ball at the midfield line with his back to the Hamilton net and layed it off to senior Angus Kennedy in Williams' defensive half. Kennedy played a beautiful one-time ball over the top of Hamilton's left back to streaking first-year Zach Grady at the top right of the box, putting Grady one-on-one with the keeper. Grady received the ball and shot on his second touch, but his strike glanced wide of the net. The teams entered the half with the Ephs holding a 1-0 lead.
Williams opened the second 45 minutes in control of play, regularly threatening the Hamilton net. The Ephs' efforts eventually paid off in the 65th minute on a corner kick. First-year left back Andres Burbank-Crump stepped up to take an inswinging corner from the right side of the field, and junior co-captain Matt Ratajczak, unmarked, made a forceful run to the top of the 6-yard box. Ratajzcak met the ball with his head, driving it by Boole and into the net to give Williams a 2-0 lead.
The Ephs again took advantage of a vulnerable Colonials defense seven minutes later. Williams had used junior Doug Weinrib's long throw-ins as a weapon all game, and the Ephs took advantage of his ability to launch the ball all the way to the 6-yard box in the 72nd minute. Weinrib took a throw-in from deep in the Hamilton half on the right hand side, finding sophomore Matt Kastner cutting through the box for a header that flew past Boole for Williams' third goal of the game.
Hamilton threatened Williams' goal several times in the last 18 minutes, but the Continentals could not find a way past Finnan, and the Ephs walked away with the 3-0 victory.
Even with the Ephs controlling play, the game was fairly even statistically. The Ephs had 9 shots, only three more than Colonials' 6. The Ephs also committed 11 fouls, while the Colonials only commited 8.
"I thought it was a game of halves for us," said Williams head coach Mike Russo. "We scored early, and it hurt us. I think we said to ourselves, "This is going to be easy," and we let down our guard little bit. Going into the second half, we spoke about playing with more urgency, and we did that."
Russo noted how dangerous the Ephs looked on restarts this season. "We are more dangerous than we've been in the past because we have good weapons," he said. "We are working more on those than in the past."
"The back line looked good, and Angus Kennedy had a good second half especially. I was pleased with his play in midfield today," Russo added. "Overall it was good team performance. It was difficult to play on this turf because the it was hard to keep the ball on the ground. I was pleased overall, and we are now in good position going into our game with Trinity on Saturday."
The Ephs take on the Bantams at 1 p.m. on Saturday. The game will take place at Cole Field, conditions permitting.
