Williams Shuts Out Colby 5-0

Williamstown, Mass. - Williams (9-2, 4-2 NESCAC) defeated Colby (4-4, 1-4 NESCAC) on Williamson Field on a chilly fall afternoon.  
 

The Ephs jumped out to a 2 goal lead in the first quarter and never looked back, controlling the pace of play throughout. Elizabeth Welch opened the scoring at the 11:02 mark, attacking the teeth of the defense, finding a lane to shoot and found the back of the net. The response from the mules was stopped by Linda Bibeau. Then, with 6:30 to go, Emily Batchelor took the opportunity in transition to sneak a pass to Shea van den Broek, who was blocked by Sydney Gallop. Van den Broek was fouled, leading to a free shot by Catherine Torres. Torres took a glance at Emily Loeb's position and fired at the right corner, scoring the 2nd goal at the 6:08 mark. Batchelor reflected on the quick start, saying, "we were executing the little things, like... we always warm up with practicing interceptions and I think we were really able to apply that today from the get-go".  


 

Coach Alix Barrale noted that the quick scores "always let you... catch your breath" but sometimes "it can slow us down because we become complacent slightly", which was part of the reason the Ephs did not add on in the second quarter. Colby started to generate its own offense at the 11:09 mark in the 2nd, where Sandrine Brien led a fastbreak, forcing a penalty corner. The leading goal scorer for the Mules had a green card later in the quarter. Off of the corner, Lillian Kistner had a chance to bring Colby within one, but Carson Stephenson saved the shot. Throughout the later stages of the second quarter, Molly Hellman and Siobhan Morrissey took back control, forcing the Mules back to their own side.  
 

The headline of the third quarter was the intensity with which the Ephs came out of halftime with. The home squad forced 6 corners in the 3rd alone. The third time was the charm for the Ephs, as at the 8:42 mark, van den Broek cleaned up the rebound from Welch's first two shots to score Williams' 3rd goal on the 3rd penalty corner of the 3rd quarter. Barrale said, "the most important piece is to make sure we're playing together." To exemplify this, Kelly McCarthy took a pass from Welch and tacked on the 4th goal of the day in the 4th quarter.  Batchelor cemented the victory with a little chip shot past the outstretched arms of Loeb with 4:58 to go in the game. Batchelor said the team was "playing a full 60 minutes today, [so] we really demonstrated that we can be really powerful in both halves". 
 

For Colby, Loeb had 15 saves, all coming in the first three quarters, giving her a save percentage of 75%, slightly higher than her season mark at 68%. For the Ephs, Stephenson played the first half and Gates Tenerowicz played the second, each saving one shot.  
 

Next up for Williams is another home game, this time against Bowdoin at 1:00 PM Sunday, October 10th. Colby heads to Bangor, Maine to take on Husson University at 7:00 PM Tuesday, October 12th.