Box Score AMHERST, MA—You have to go back a while to find the game. Go back before the sectional final clashes between the Amherst and Williams men's soccer teams in each of the last two NCAA tournaments, before the NESCAC existed, before Mike Russo became coach of the Ephs, before Russo was even born.
1933. That was the last time the Jeffs scored four goals against the Ephs. They did it again on Saturday, scoring twice in each half to claim a 4-1 victory over their arch-nemeses at Hitchcock Field. With the win, No. 13 Amherst (4-0-1, 3-0-1 NESCAC) temporarily wrested first place in the conference away from Tufts, which played a non-conference game. Meanwhile, the No. 25 Ephs (3-2-0, 2-1-0) slipped into a tie for fourth with Wesleyan, and suddenly find themselves in the midst of their first losing streak since 2008 after last Sunday's loss to Babson.
The final result does not fully do justice to the Ephs, who went from nearly tying the game to down three in a five-minute span in the second half. With Williams down 2-1 and pressing numbers forward in the 67th minute, Malcolm Moutenot found Matt Muralles open in the penalty box with slow cross, but the Eph senior hit his shot high over the net. Neither team claimed the ensuing goal kick but when a speculative through ball from the Jeffs' Bryce Ciambella temporarily baffled the Eph back line, Nico Pascual-Leone took advantage and brilliantly volleyed a rocket past goalie Christian Alcorn for his second goal of the afternoon. Amherst alums poured onto the field to celebrate, then leapt to their feet less than three minutes later when Andrew Orozco used his 6'6" frame to head a looping Pascual-Leone free kick past Alcorn and effectively end the game with 20 minutes still showing on the clock.
Though the Ephs had plenty of chances, they lacked a finishing touch, wasting a pair of golden chances to open the scoring in the early going. Less than four minutes had elapsed in the first half when Matt Muralles sent a long cross-field ball towards the left side for Malcolm Moutenot, who won the 50-50 ball and cut in alone on Bull. But the sophomore winger was left pounding the grass in frustration after he airmailed his point-blank shot well over the crossbar, keeping the game scoreless. About eight minutes later, the Ephs had another chance following a hand ball called on Gabriel Wirz near the goal line on the right side. Andrés Burbank-Crump found Muralles making a well-timed run to meet his low cross, but Muralles' volley careened high over the net.
The Jeffs saw little of the ball and even less of the offensive third in the game's opening minutes. Then, out of nowhere, they struck. Thomas Bull handled a broken Williams cross and punted a one-hopper out to Christopher Martin at midfield. With multiple Eph defenders back and Martin spearheading the charge alone, the play appeared innocuous enough, but Martin picked up steam, bull-rushed his way straight past Luke Pierce and calmly side-footed the ball past Eph goalie Christian Alcorn for his first goal of the season to give a 1-0 Amherst lead with just under 30 minutes left in the half.
A quarter-hour later, the Jeffs got another lightning goal. After an errant clearance from Geoff Danilack fell to Amherst's Greg Singer, the junior forward split two defenders and passed to Nico Pascual-Leone into space. Pascual-Leone's turned cleanly with the ball and, like Martin before him, made a beeline for the net before firing off a perfect low shot from outside the 18 that beat Alcorn, who sprawled to his left but could not get a hand on the ball, to put the Jeffs up a pair.
In an ironic twist, the Ephs earned their tally just when the pitch began to tilt against them. A foul on Bubba Van Wie, who pulled down Muralles as the later barreled toward penalty area, gave the Ephs a free kick about seven yards away from the arc. Burbank-Crump's shot was low and not especially hard, but it deflected off the shin and between the legs of Mikey Hoeksema and trickled off the far post and over the line, giving the Williams senior the second goal of his 55-game career and pulling the Ephs to within 2-1.
The goal energized Williams, who carried play into and after the half as they worked for an equalizer. But the Jeff back line refused to yield, weathering multiple Eph rushes before finally striking the knockout blow shortly after the hour mark.
Both sides will now look ahead to critical matches. Amherst next squares off against Tufts in Medford this Saturday, while the Ephs return home to face RPI, ranked 14th in the nation in the latest NSCAA coaches' poll. Kickoff is set for 4:15 p.m.
