Middletown, Conn–The away-from-home Williams College Ephs (5-2-1 NESCAC; 8-2-2) would not make life easy for their hosts, the Wesleyan University Cardinals (2-3-1 NESCAC; 5-3-2) in their senior day match. The Ephs, especially in the last 30 minutes of play, created several dangerous opportunities, but ironclad defense on both sides and physical end-to-end play would see the Ephs limited to a hard-fought point on the road against Wesleyan, stretching their unbeaten streak to 9 games and capturing the Little Three title.
The first 25 minutes started cagey and defensive for both sides, with the only real chance coming in the 6th minute of play for Williams. The chance began when senior goalkeeper Ben Diffley knocked a ball into the box from about 30 yards out. The Cardinal defense were able to get the ball out of the danger, but only as far as first year Ben Brown, who, with no hesitation, struck the ball with poise and power. Unfortunately for the Ephs, the shot sailed over the bar for a Wesleyan goal kick.
Part of this 25-minute bout of inaction was due to stellar set piece defense by the Ephs, who repelled two dangerous Wesleyan free kicks in the 18th and 24th minutes, mainly due to the aerial dominance of sophomore center-back Griffin Labonski and goalkeeper Ben Diffley.
In the 33rd minute, the action picked up when a Wesleyan long throw into the box, a tactic popular in the NESCAC, led to a half cross half shot from Wesleyan attacker Kyle Burbage that Diffley was able to save comfortably.
Diffley's first real test would come in the 35th minute of play when Cardinal Midfeilder Yousuf Saeed nailed a shot at the right side of the goal, forcing Diffley to dive and parry the ball wide.
In an equal opposite reaction, Williams would push back, only a minute later, in the 36th minute when sophomore Spencer Mix picked up the ball in the left channel and drove it forward. Once on top of the box, Mix pierced the ball diagonally through the Cardinal defense into the right side run of junior Evan Vasquez. Vasquez hit the ball far post and had the flailing Wesleyan goalkeeper Mathis Blanc completely beat, but the shot would not find the net thanks to a brilliant sliding save from Wesleyan midfielder Zach Wheeler.
The first half ended 0-0.
Early in the second half, Wesleyan put some pressure on the Ephs via setpieces, but once again, the Willaims' defense was up for the challenge and defended well. In the 47th minute, a Wesleyan corner was redirected on frame toward far post-side netting, but junior defender Sam Gibson was well positioned and was able to head the ball off the goal line to keep the scoreline 0-0.
Momentum would slowly shift and after the 60th minute of play, the Ephs would more or less control to the match.
In the 62nd minute, first year Lorcan Mitchell nearly had himself a Worldy when he recognized correctly that Wesleyan Goalkeeper Mathis Blanc was positioned far out of his goal in no man's land. Mitchell, with space and time to think, hit a half-field chip that, had it been a little softer and to the left, would have been the Williams goal of the season.
The best chance of the second half came in the 68th minute off another deep Ben Diffley free kick into the box that bounced it's way to sophomore Atticus Ross, who took a quick shot that was deflected. Instead of giving up, Ross fought hard for the second ball, and would win it back and get in a bit of space. Ross fired off a second shot that, this time, would get through the traffic and force a diving save from Wesleyan goalkeeper Mathis Blanc.
In the 80th minute, junior Mohamed Kuessom showed his deadly one-on-one ability when he received a pass in the right channel and, with an outside-inside move, split two Cardinal defenders and dribbled the ball into the box. Keussom would lay off the ball to senior Tate Michelson, who, under pressure, sailed the ball over the bar.
It wasn't just Williams who played good defense in this match. In the 85th minute, the Ephs found themselves in a transition, three-on-one attack with Lorcan Mitchell on the ball. Lorcan did well to move the play forward, but the Wesleyan defense did even better to get organized in seconds and cut off Mitchell's attempted pass to a fellow Eph runner.
Both sides would fight hard to find the winning goal, but good defense and physical play would end the match 0-0.
Eph head coach Steffen Siebert commented on his side's performance: "Incredible work the team put in once again today to get another point on the road against a very good Wesleyan team. Ending a very intense last 3 weeks with a 7-0-2 record, another shutout, and our seniors first Little 3 title is an incredible achievement by every player on the roster and I could not be prouder! Time to recover for a bit and we go again in 8 days vs Keene State."
Williams will try to keep their unbeaten streak alive in their next match on October 21, away at Keene State.
