Williamstown, MA – The Ephs advanced to the NESCAC semifinals after an emotional rollercoaster of a game against Hamilton. The game finished 1-1 in regulation courtesy of a last minute equalizer by
Jaquelin Nordhoff, and the Ephs triumphed 4-2 in the penalty shootout.
There was palpable excitement from the start, especially from the Hamilton bench, whose cheers propelled their team to a strong start. The Continentals got their goal 7 minutes in, off of a free kick. Sent in by Abby Douglass, the freekick evaded the first Williams defenders in the box, before taking an unlucky bounce for the Ephs and rolling into the left corner of the net. Although the free kick originally seemed like a cross, a goal's a goal and it sent Hamilton's team into early celebrations.
The Ephs' only opportunities in the first 15 minutes were some corner kicks that went out for Hamilton goal kicks.
Over a five minute span starting in the 20
th minute,
Isabel Konijnenberg kept finding space down the right flank but her crosses didn't find a Williams head and the Continentals retained their lead.
Halfway through the first half, the Ephs made a tactical shift, moving to a 4-3-3 to get more players involved in the attack.
In the 30
th minute, Hamilton went close again, with Taryn Gillis opening up space on the left flank before delivering a cross to Maddie Ledbury, who chipped her shot over
Margaret Huelin and the goal. A minute later, an attempted long ball was swept up by
Reece Willison and
Ava Simunovic.
In the 34
th minute, a ball over the top from
Meredith Tutun was contested by
Bria Abbiati and Hamilton goalkeeper Nieve Tonna, and although Abbiati got her head to it, Tonna won out in the end.
In the 42
nd minute, Huelin pulled off a ridiculous save to keep the score at 1-0. A shot by Erin Rayhill from outside of the box was headed right for the top right corner of Huelin's goal, and a combination of good positioning and a big stretch got her hands to it, palming the ball out for a corner. On the corner, the ball fell again to Rayhill, and her shot on target was again met with a save by Huelin.
Williams roared out of halftime, pressing the Continentals hard and shifting the game's momentum to their favor.
In the 49
th minute, Tutun hit a shot off the outside side netting. A minute later, a Nordhoff corner bounced around in the box before falling to
Reece Willison, who took on two players and fired a shot wide.
A spell of Eph dominance started in the 50th minute. A Nordhoff corner bounced around before falling to
Reece Willison, who took on two players and hit her shot wide.
Kianna Porter and
Brianna Wright were involved in some good play, and
Tori Huang had two shots blocked.
In the 59th minute, some interplay between
Blakeley Buckingham and Konijnenberg down the right led to a cross that Tonna dropped. Abbiati collected it but the defense was on her before she could pick out a good shot. In the next minute, Abbiati had a shot from outside the box that was saved.
In the 74th and 77th minutes,
Ana Bozzi-Mackay made a couple of important saves. The first was a strong grab on a volley from close. The second one came after Rayhill made a slaloming run through the Williams defense and shot low to the left. Bozzi-Mackay made a hard save look easy by catching the ball as it flew.
In the 83rd minute two crosses came in for the Ephs. The first, from Konijnenberg, almost found Simunovic. The second found Abbiati, who volleyed over the bar.
With just over three minutes left off the clock Huang won a free kick deep into the midfield after some tenacious play. Nordhoff stepped up to take it and sent an absolute SCREAMER into the top left corner. The shot left her foot with such ferocity that the Hamilton goalkeeper was left with no chance. The last-gasp equalizer sent the crowd into delirium and fittingly, a minute later the sun came out. With a goal that lifted the gloom over Cole field, Nodhoff sent this thrilling contest to overtime.
With the game ending at 1-1, the game went into two 10 minute overtime periods. The Ephs truly took over the game, but couldn't score in either period. That was not for a lack of chances, however.
A love story between Nordhoff corners and Simunovic's head blossomed in the first overtime period. That combination happened three times, with the most notable being saved off the line by a Hamilton defender.
With 45 seconds left in the first overtime, the Continentals had a free kick from the same place as the one with which the Ephs equalized. Unfortunately, they don't have a Jaq Nordhoff and it fell limply to the Eph defenders.
With 4:30 left on the clock in second overtime, Buckingham tried an improvised volley with her knee after an Abbiati cross. A couple more shots came in, but no chances of note came, and the clock ticked down to zero.
A nervous hush came over the pitch as the teams prepared for their penalties, and to take the first up stepped
Blakeley Buckingham. She put the perfect combination of power and placement on the ball as the shootout's first goal was scored.
Hamilton's Daisy Sullivan hit a well placed shot into the top right, leveling the score.
Tori Huang was next, and unfortunately her shot hit the woodwork.
Olivia Zubarik stepped up to take the lead and did so well, sending Bozzi-Mackay the wrong way and putting the Ephs under pressure.
The pressure did not get to
Bria Abbiati, whose penalty was just out of reach of Tonna, who dove the right way.
Alexi Vaillancourt decided to shoot right, and while her effort was on target, so was Bozzi-Mackay, who smothered it. Back tied up.
Claire Tolliver stepped up and hit a inch perfect penalty, piling the pressure on the Continentals.
Under pressure from the Williams home support, Olivia Morrow shot her penalty off the left post, giving Nordhoff the chance to ice the game.
Nordhoff made no mistake, finishing her shot, and the game.
"Really proud of the fight and belief that we showed to never give up and come back in that game. I felt like we pretty much dominated that game, but that means nothing when you are down one-zero. It was a big difference to how we played Tuesday where it didn't feel like we believed. Today we really showed what we're capable of. To the players who took on the penalty shootout: big credit to them for stepping up and being so calm and taking care of that end for us. We're very very excited to be going to a NESCAC semifinal this weekend. I can't wait to see who we play and am excited that the post-season journey is continuing. I thought everyone gave everything they possibly could in that second half and in overtime."
With this win, the Ephs move on to a NESCAC semifinal in Amherst next week.
