Williamstown, MA – Despite an excellent performance against r6th ranked MIT at Cole field, Williams lost 1-0. The first half was very even despite the Beavers' goal, but the second half was pure Williams dominance, as the Ephs outshot their opponents 14-1 in that half.
Lily Mark was very active early in the game for the Ephs, forcing MIT's goalkeeper Maddy Noll into a save in the 7
th minute. She was also on corner duty, delivering three good corners into the box in the first four minutes. Her strong forward performance in the first half also involved a shot in the 15
th minute that was also saved.
MIT locked in, regaining their footing after the first wave of Williams pressure.
Margaret Huelin was great in goal for the Ephs, making five saves in her 45 minutes on the pitch. The Beavers got their goal in the 43
rd minute with a nice attack. A shot came in and Huelin parried it away for her fifth save. Unfortunately, there was an MIT player there to tap in the rebound to take the lead.
Tori Huang had a great half, recovering from a nasty blow to the face to do well in the midfield. The Williams back line also did excellently to stop waves of pressure from MIT.
Williams came out to the second half rampant.
Brianna Wright got a shot on target off in the 46
th minute. In that same minute,
Elizabeth Stophel subbed in. She went on to have a great performance, hitting two shots that were saved by Noll.
Meredith Tutun and
Piper Dupies were excellent as always at wide defense, both getting up the field on occasion and both drawing saves. MIT had multiple corner kicks, but other than that they did not threaten the Ephs, who were rock solid.
Kianna Porter was the anchor in midfield, doing a great job defensively.
To write about every Williams player who had a look at goal would be to list the entire team. Needless to say, they had an excellent game and were massively unlucky to not score. It cannot be fully attributed to luck, though, as eight saves in a half from MIT's goalkeeper was frankly insane.
After the game Eph head coach
Sarah Raymond said: "Couldn't be prouder of how hard we competed today. We might be the unluckiest team going in Division 3 at this moment in front of the goal but with what we demonstrated with how hard we can compete and dominate play against one of the top ranking teams in the country, we know the tide will turn in our favor. So many great performances from the whole team today but Ki, Tori and Ava really set the tone and Elizabeth was so dangerous for us in her first serious college minutes."
The Ephs are back in action next week at home, welcoming Vermont State Castleton to Cole field on Sunday the 20
th.
