Norton, MA – First Year
Alex Bethencourt 28' took no time to make his mark, scoring a late second-half brace to kick off the Williams College Ephs (1-0-0) 2024 campaign with a 3-1 victory over the Wheaton College Lyons (2-0-1) who had come into this game with momentum after defeating number 12 ranked team in the nation Montclair State 2-1.
The first half marked defensive success for Williams, as they limited Wheaton to only two low-percentage shots: one by Joey Everett in the 8th minute and another by Dan Vera in the 14th minute, both of which went wide of senior keeper Ben Diffley and his goal.
The Lyons were close to scoring, though, when they hit a ball high and in behind for striker Brandon Vera, who would have gotten it if it weren't for a brilliant run and piece of emergency defending by junior Sam Gibson, who managed to sprint back, kick the ball out, and deny Vera a one-on-one with Diffley.
The Ephs' attack faired better, generating four shots in the first half. One came from sophomore Atticus Ross, who had a header saved early on, and another when a dangerous, driven free kick by junior Mohamed Keussom, almost found sophomore Griffin Labonski, who was lurking in the box.
In the 38th minute, the deadlock was broken with a goal from sophomore Kellan Grace when he created a step of space 15 yards outside the box which he took advantage of with a shot that beat Wheaton keeper Michael O'Gara in the bottom corner of his net.
The first half ended with Williams up 1-0.
Once the second half started, Wheaton didn't take long to strike back. In the 56th minute, a cross from Aidan Doyle found the head of Ethan Alfanso in the box, leading to Lyons' equalizer.
The next 20 minutes saw both sides trying hard to dictate the game's tempo, but Williams was finding a lot of success in wide areas, generating crosses and set pieces that would eventually win them the game.
In the 59th minute, Eph seniors Tate Michelson and Felipe Gutierrez, created a dangerous cross, via a 1-2 pass overload on the left side of the field.
In the 65th minute, first year Lorcan Mitchell came close to opening his Williams account when he beat his man inside the box and struck a shot that hit the side netting.
Shortly after, in the 69th minute, center-back Griffin Labonski performed defensive heroics to prevent a Wheaton lead when he cleared the ball off the goal line after a dangerous Wheaton attack.
The winning goal came in the 74th minute from a dangerous long throw into the box from junior Henry Kirkman. The ball fell to Griffin Labonksi, the goal line hero on defense, who took a shot that hit the post. With a lucky bounce and good positioning, first-year Alex Bethencourt was in the right place at the right time to bury the rebound in what would be the winning goal for the Ephs.
One goal wasn't enough for the first year Bethencourt. in the 81st minute, he sealed the victory for Williams off a brilliant free kick that he bent around the wall and drove into the bottom left corner. Alex Bethancourt won't soon forget his brace and brilliant debut for the Williams Men's soccer program. The Ephs defended well for the remaining 9 minutes and earned a 3-1 victory in their first game.
A happy Coach Steffen Sibert said this after the match:
"The season opener is never easy, especially against an in-form Wheaton College team. Especially proud of the resilience from the team and our response after we got scored on. The team did not skip a beat and answered with 2 great goals after the 1:1 to open the season with a win on the road. Now all focus on the home opener vs Tufts."The Ephs and Jumbos will square off Saturday on Cole Field at 1:00 PM.
