Williamstown, MA - It was an unfortunate end of the regular season for the Ephs as they fell 2-1 at home to Middlebury. Gigi Day's brace sunk the Ephs, while
Mirabai Dyson scored a late consolation goal.
The first 15 minutes of the match saw dominance in possession by the Ephs but they could not capitalize. Momentum swung, and the Panthers went on the attack. Both sides put up solid defensive blocks at the start of the match. In the 21st minute, a Middlebury striker was nearly in before
Reece Willison took the ball off of her in a 1v1 situation. A minute later,
Jaquelin Nordhoff stepped in to block a shot.
The 25th minute saw
Paige Nelson make an important defensive play, knocking the ball out for a corner kick. The ensuing corner found a head and subsequently the crossbar. Phew. With that, the Ephs survived a brief period of Panther dominance.
In the 26th minute,
Tori Huang laid the ball back for
Ava Simunovic who took on two players before blasting her shot wide right. Another chance fell to the Ephs three minutes later, when
Kelly Beale took the ball down the line and played
Parker Harnett, who found
Isabel Konijnenberg. Konijnenberg got her shot off and forced a save from goalie Carolyn Kelley. In the 30th minute, a shot from outside of the box by
Ansley Burns forced a similar save.
The last major chance of the first half came in the 38th minute, when a
Piper Dupies crossed to
Riley Borenstein, whose header glanced wide right. The teams went in the half level, setting the game up for a firey second half.
The Panthers got their first goal in the 53rd minute. An attack down the left flank found Abby Ward, who collected the ball and crossed it to Day, who was unmarked inside the six yard box. Day smashed it home for a 1-0 lead.
In the 65th minute, a short corner sequence between
Piper Dupies and
Jaquelin Nordhoff ended up in a beautiful shot by Dupies, that clattered off the crossbar. Mere inches away from making the score 1-1.
Ward assisted Day again in the 71st minute for Middlebury's second score. Receiving the ball at the top of the box, Day hit a long shot into the right side of the goal, past
Ana Bozzi-Mackay's outstreched hand.
The Ephs clawed one back in the 84th minute, as
Sam Brown lobbed a ball into the box for
Mirabai Dyson. Dyson took it down and stabbed the ball into the bottom left, halving the Panther lead. Game on. The Ephs were fired up for the final five minutes, taking full control of the match.
Unfortunately, they could not score, and the game ended 2-1.
After the game, Eph head coach
Sarah Raymond said: "Not a great performance from us today and Midd showed up and played with pride, played smart tactical soccer and basically outplayed us. I think the take away for us is how we responded to being down, I didn't feel the same energy and belief that we had on Saturday so it's a good reminder of how we need to best deal with adversity because I'm sure there is much to come. So an important lesson that we can take with us into playoffs and be competing for every minute from here on out!"
An unfortunate loss, but it is NESCAC Tournament time next for the Ephs and there is much to look forward to!
