Amherst women’s soccer posted its eighth and ninth shutouts of the year, drawing Wesleyan 0-0 on Saturday Oct. 19th and beating Conn. College 4-0 last Wednesday. The results extended the Jeffs’ unbeaten streak to eight games and moved them to 9-1-3 overall and 5-1-3 in the NESCAC.
The 0-4-2 NESCAC record that Wesleyan carried into their clash with Amherst did not tell the full story of the Cardinals’ season; they had conceded just six goals in their six conference games, and played in four overtime games. Considering Amherst’s similarly good defense, which had allowed just five goals in NESCAC play, it was not too surprising when both teams struggled to score.
Although the Jeffs controlled the first half of play, they did not pose a strong scoring threat until its last few minutes. Megan Kim ’16 and Emma Rothkopf ’15 both hit shots from inside the box, but Wesleyan keeper Jessica Tollman managed to save both attempts. The first ten minutes of the second half were more eventful. Both teams were able to create chances, including a Kate Sisk ’14 header that went wide. Play settled down as regulation came to a close, and neither team managed a shot in the first overtime period. Amherst made a final push in the second overtime, including shots from Sisk, Alex Hart ’15 and Sarah Duffy ’14, but it came to nothing.
“We were able to end on a very strong second half and overtime despite the tie,” commented captain Sara Abrahams ’14. “I think that built momentum heading into our 4-0 win against Conn. College on Wednesday. We put everything together that we’ve been working on all season.”
The Jeffs had a bit of trouble hitting the target during the game; although they held a 17-5 advantage in shots, they only forced three saves from Tollman. Meanwhile, Amherst’s Holly Burwick ’16 only had to make one save to preserve the shutout. The tie did extend the Jeffs’ unbeaten streak, which now stands at 23 games.
Amanda Brisco ’14 scored twice on Wednesday’s game, the Jeffs’ final regular season home game of the year. The Jeffs secured a comfortable four goal victory despite being outshot 12-10. Brisco put her team ahead with the first half’s only goal, booting a Duffy cross into the net in the 27th minute. The assist was Duffy’s fifth of the year, a number that ties her for the NESCAC lead. In the ensuing minutes, Conn. College fought hard for an equalizer and generated a couple opportunities in the box. Several Camels were unable to connect in the Amherst box on a few chances in the first half.
The Jeffs picked up two quick goals to start the second half. First, Megan Kim scored her team-leading ninth goal of the season, from the right side of the box. Then, Duffy played in another cross, this time from the right, which floated just past goalkeeper Natalie Signor’s hands and into the net. With the game securely in hand, the action slowed down a bit over the next half hour, until Brisco volleyed a corner kick past Signor in the dying moments to close the game. Burwick, who is third in the nation in goals against average, saved five shots before being replaced in the 74th minute by Meghan Mills ’15.
“We’re improving each game and we’re doing a much better job of finishing than we were in the beginning of the season,” said head coach Jen Hughes. “That said, we still have a lot of room for improvement. Specifically, we need to do a better job of keeping the ball, especially under pressure.”
The Jeffs play their last regular season game Wednesday at Trinity, (6-3-0 NESCAC, 10-3-0 overall) who they are tied with in the NESCAC standings. In fact, based on Wednesday’s result, and depending on whether Bowdoin and Williams win, Amherst could finish anywhere from second to sixth in the NESCAC.
“Hopefully we’ll be able to execute against Trinity,” said Hughes. “They are a very good team, so we’ll have to be at our best to get a good result.”
