Box Score WILLIAMSTOWN, MA -- In the echoes of last year's contests, ninety minutes on a cool fall Saturday afternoon was not enough for either Williams or Amherst to exert their supremacy on the soccer field. It took two overtime periods and a slew of scoring chances for the Jeffs to finally find a way through an outstanding Williams back-line, led by Eph senior center-half Dan Lima.
The goal finally came when Jeff senior Max Fikke scored a clinical 106th minute goal to lift the Amherst College men's soccer team (5-0-1, NESCAC 2-0-1) past Williams (3-2-0, NESCAC 1-2-0) in a double-overtime thriller at Cole Field.
Fikke's goal came after some incredible back-and-forth play in the overtime periods. On a counter attack, freshman Christopher Martin was able to fight off Eph junior wingback Andres Burbank-Crump and Lima on the right wing to dribble down the touchline and calmly slide a ball across the face of the goal. Fikke collected the ball from about 12 yards out, took a touch to settle, and made no mistake with his left foot, slotting the ball under the outstretched arms of Ephs senior keeper Peter Morrell.
"We just need to be a little bit more focused later in games, and we weren't," remarked Coach Mike Russo after the game.
The game started off at a fast pace with the Ephs dominating most of the chances in the first ten minutes. The Jeffs, however, had the first good chance of the afternoon in the 16th minute, when Fikke lofted a long throw-in into the Ephs box that rolled untouched across the face of the goal that was only barely cleared by Lima before a Jeff could bury the ball in the back of the net.
Thirty minutes later after several missed scoring opportunities and scuffed shots, the Jeffs made an offensive substitution to change formation to a 4-3-3. The last ten minutes of the first half showed the positive difference that change made, as the Jeffs created a series of good opportunities.
In the 43rd minute after a foul by Eph sophomore Jonathan Westling, Fikke launched a ball out of the midfield into the Ephs' defensive third where Jeff junior Bubba Van Wie was waiting to fire the ball at Morrell, whose great hands easily saved the shot.
After the game Coach Russo noted the outstanding defensive performance: "We were very solid on defense in today's game. Every one of us had great performances."
As the second-half began, the game started to get very chippy. In the very first minute, Eph sophomore Geoff Danilack was taken down hard by Jeff junior Robert Gooden.
As the fouls continued to stream in, the Ephs' offensive play rose as they created a great scoring opportunity in the 58th minute. A series of inch-perfect passes between freshman Patrick Gordon, Westling, and junior Nathan Miller resulted in Gordon controlling the ball in the left corner of the field. However, some good defense forced the ball out of play before Gordon could get his cross into the box.
Ten minutes later, the Ephs had another good opportunity created by a long throw-in by freshman Malcolm Moutenot that fell at Miller's feet. His shot caromed off a Jeff defender, and the rebound fell to Eph junior Chris Seitz whose shot trickled just wide of the left post.
As time ticked down, the hunger for a goal increased on both sides of the ball. With only three minutes left, the Ephs created a golden chance when a lofted through ball was sent out of the midfield to junior Matt Murallas, who beat Jeff senior defender Ben Norton, but was dragged down from behind moments later with seemingly only the sophomore keeper Thomas Bull to beat. The foul resulted in a yellow card for Norton, and Murallas' ensuing free kick was skied over Bull's crossbar.
The remaining time was bled out by the outstanding defenses of both Williams and Amherst.
Only three minutes into the resumption of play, the Ephs appeared to have a great goal scoring opportunity through Seitz. Seitz received a pass and dribbled into the top-right side of the box, where he was tackled hard by an Amherst defender. In spite of shouts for a penalty, the ref's whistle remained silent.
On the ensuing counter, Gooden received a yellow card for a late challenge on Morrell after Morrell had collected the ball.
In the last minute of the first overtime period, the Jeffs had their best scoring opportunity of the game thus-far. Some great footwork and dribbling skill left Martin alone on the right wing to sail a beautiful cross onto the back post of Morrell's goal where sophomore Jeff standout Nico Pascual-Leone was waiting to head the ball into the ground under Morrell, but Morrell made the save of the game, smashing the ball away with his flailing right leg to keep the Ephs alive.
The offensive exchanges carried over seamlessly into the second overtime period as Miller and Moutenot exchanged wonderful passes in the 103rd minute before Moutenot's cross was taken out of the air by an in-form Bull.
The goal finally came only three minutes later in the 106th minute, as the combination of Martin and Fikke silenced the home crowd at Cole Field.
"Our defense is solid. Now we need to score goals against the good teams. Two goals three NESCAC games is simply not good enough to cut it. It isn't that there aren't enough chances, we just have to finish them," stated Coach Russo.
Amherst outshot Williams 21 to 15 with 11 of those shots on goal to Williams' 3. Amherst had 6 corners to Williams' 4 and 16 fouls to Williams' 19.
Both Amherst and Williams play at home next Saturday at 2 pm against Tufts and Connecticut College respectively.
