Mechanicsburg, PA – After a strong, hard-fought performance, the Ephs were knocked out of the NCAA tournament by a goal in the final five minutes despite countless defensive plays and good attacking opportunities.
Away to No. 5 Messiah, many might have expected the Ephs to park the bus, but they came out with a box-to-box, all action performance that very nearly brought the win to Williamstown. From kickoff, it was clear that this would be a great game, and one that would be decided by the smallest margins.
A moment of brilliance would be needed to open the scoring, and
Bria Abbiati nearly had that in the 18th minute. Receiving the ball in the midfield, she turned and took a few touches before ripping a shot towards the top right corner of Messiah goalkeeper Ava Wert's goal. Wert was equal to it, however, palming the ball out for a corner at full stretch.
The Falcons had a big chance of their own three minutes later and would have scored if not for a great save from
Margaret Huelin. A cross to the back post found Hannah Adair, who headed the ball back towards where it came from and towards the bottom left corner of Huelin's net. Reacting quickly, Huelin dove down and clawed the ball away, keeping the score at 0-0.
The quality of Williams' defense was evident in this match, with every member of the back line putting in a great performance. In the 29th minute,
Ava Simunovic came across to deny a golden opportunity, getting in front of the Messiah forward and winning the ball near the six-yard box.
In the 35th minute it was
Paige Nelson's turn to make a crucial intervention, making a clearance after a cross had made its way to the back post. Two minutes later Huelin was involved again, rushing off her line to collect a long ball that was en-route to a Messiah striker.
Messiah's defense also had a great game, stopping nearly every Williams attack before it got to their box.
The first half ended with the match locked at zeroes and both teams hopeful to advance.
In the 49th minute, it was
Reece Willison's turn to make a big challenge to deny Messiah the go-ahead goal, and the momentum briefly shifted, long enough for the Ephs to find their second close chance of the match.
In the 54th minute,
Brianna Wright, who had a lively game, got the ball from a throw in, cleverly using the bounce of the ball to get around her first defender. Wright did a move past a second and was into the penalty area. Unfortunately for the Ephs, her shot went wide at the near post.
Messiah responded, giving Williams' second half goalkeeper
Ana Bozzi-Mackay something to worry about with two free kicks near the 63rd minute mark.
For the next twenty minutes, neither team had a clear-cut opportunity, and the battle stayed in the midfield, where the Williams midfielders did an amazing job of disrupting the Messiah attack and moving the ball forward.
Then came the dagger shot.
With four minutes left on the clock and the game seemingly destined for overtime, Mia Libby played Adair into the Williams box. Adair took a moment to set herself, before shooting across the face of goal and rippling the right side netting of the Williams net.
While the Ephs pushed hard for the last four minutes, it was not enough, and the Ephs were knocked out in heart-wrenching fashion.
Discussing the game and season as a whole post match, Eph head coach
Sarah Raymond said: "I am heartbroken for the team on how we lost. I am so proud of the heart and competitive fight we displayed today, and our defense couldn't have played any better. Messiah are a very good team but they were in a battle for every minute today. In the end we gave every ounce of ourselves which is all we could ask for. We can certainly hold our heads up knowing we are a damn good team who can compete with anyone. We are sad it is over but thankful for the journey."
Thankful for the journey indeed, as that game wraps up an incredibly entertaining season of soccer. We saw wonder goals, boundless grit, excellent debut campaigns, late winners, tough losses, a nigh impenetrable defense, slick skills, fingertip saves, rain, sun, penalty drama, a NESCAC Player of the Year in
Jaquelin Nordhoff and 2 more NESCAC Firsr Teamers in
Paige Nelson and
Tori Huang, attacking tactics, and most importantly, a family. It will be a long wait for avid WWS fans, but they will return next year, ready for another memorable season.
See you all next year.
