Last week, the Amherst College men’s soccer team played three tough matches, with two of the three battles going into overtime. Recording two wins and one loss, the Mammoths are now 4-2-2 in NESCAC play and sit comfortably fourth in the league standings.

This past weekend, the Mammoths traveled to Maine for a doubleheader against Colby and Bates. Amherst suffered only their second loss of the season on Saturday, as the Mules managed to pull out a 2-1 overtime victory.

Jeff Rosenberg put Colby ahead in the 17th minute of play, notching an unassisted goal which ended up earning him NESCAC Player of the Week honors. The Mules managed to preserve their lead until the 86th minute, when Weller Hlinomaz ’18 was able to capitalize on a corner kick from Cutler Coleman ’20, sending the Mammoths into overtime for the third game in a row. After a scoreless first overtime period, the Mules’ Jansen Aoyama found the back of the net to deal Amherst a tough loss.

Seeking redemption after the previous day’s defeat, Amherst came away with the 2-1 win against the Bobcats. It was Bates who struck first, with Beaufils Kimpolo-Pene recording his third goal of the 2017 season. However, Kieran Bellew ’18 answered for the Mammoths. The senior collected a ball from Bijan Zojaji ’20 before beating his defender down the left side and scoring off a chipped shot over the Bates keeper.

Senior captain Aziz Khan notched the game winner early in the second half, but what characterized the game was the strong goalkeeping of Michael Stone ’21. Stone made six saves in net for the Mammoths, earning the second win of his collegiate career.

“It was a hard weekend,” midfielder Luke Nguyen ’19 said. “It was nice to bounce back on Sunday, but we all know there is work to be done if we want to win our last 3 games.”
For the fifth time in seven games, the Mammoths went to overtime against Mount St. Mary in what was a thrilling win for the purple and white, 2-1. Each team traded goals in the second half, and, with the teams knotted at 1-1 at the end of regular time, the game headed into the extra period. Only a minute and fifty seconds into extra time, Amherst sealed the victory with a golden goal from first-year Kyle Kelly off a corner kick courtesy of Fikayo Ajayi ’19. Stone made three saves in net, earning his second consecutive win.
With this victory, the team improved to 8-2-2 on the season. Next up, Amherst faces NESCAC rival Wesleyan on Saturday, Oct. 21 for their Homecoming game. Kickoff is at 2:30 p.m.