Following a nerve-racking overtime win over a Middlebury team missing nine freshmen due to orientation, Amherst Men’s Soccer vanquished any lingering doubts of their championship mettle with a dominating 3-0 victory over Bowdoin Saturday.
The Jeffs improved to 4-0 (2-0 NESCAC) on the season, extending their unbeaten streak to 24 games dating back to November 2011. Even after losing five starters to graduation, Head Coach Justin Serpone has managed to incorporate a slew of first-years and other bright, young players into the lineup while racing to a perfect record.
Imagine you knew nothing about American professional sports. If I told you that every major sport had a Hall of Fame, a place to immortalize the players who dominated and revolutionized their game, it would probably make sense to you. Then, suppose I told you that being among the best players in your era wasn’t always a guarantee to get you into your sport’s Hall.
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The Amherst Men’s Golf team continued their competitive streak at the Duke Nelson Invitational this past weekend. While not a perfect weekend, the young team took plenty of positives away from the tournament. Middlebury, the tournament host, finished in first place while the Jeffs took the 12th slot of 22 teams that competed.
Although their total scoring wasn’t what the Jeffs had hoped for, the weekend still offered great promise for the rest of their season. Sophomore James Line carried the team, earning him sixth place.
Amherst Women’s Soccer began the week with a Pioneer Valley match-up against the Mt. Holyoke Lyons. The Jeffs were winning handily, 6-0, with two goals each from Sarah Duffy ’14 and Chloe McKenzie ’14, when bad weather forced the game to be suspended before it became official. It has been rescheduled for Thursday, Oct. 3 at 7 p.m. at MHC.
The real action for the week, however, took place on Saturday as the team faced formidable NESCAC opponent Bowdoin College at home. Amherst and Bowdoin battled to a 0-0 tie in an exciting double-overtime match.
After a heartbreaking overtime loss to the third-ranked Middlebury Panthers, the Jeffs travelled to Mount Holyoke on Tuesday, Sept. 10 to take on the Lyons in a Five College battle.
The Lyons jumped out to an early lead. Diana Banmann scored unassisted just eight minutes into the first half. The 1-0 score would remain through the first thirty-five minutes of play.
Banmann was also the one to get things started in the second half. Doubling the Lyons lead, she scored off a rebound stemming from the shot of Mount Holyoke midfielder Sarah LaQuerre.
It is a remarkable thing, that should I have the means and desire to do so, I could comfortably vacation in Germany. I could spend an afternoon in Berlin, walking along a path that once split the city for a generation. I could hike the Black Forest, see the castles of Saxony and drink myself silly at Oktoberfest. Or of course, as has become a rite of passage for so many Jews of my age, I could visit the remains of a Nazi concentration camp, skillfully preserved in displays and museums that are well-attended and funded by the state.
Last Thursday began like any other day for yours truly — find a quiet spot at Val to eat breakfast, look over the previous night’s psychology reading, and peruse the day’s issue of The New York Times. I was surprised to find the front cover of a gray-haired man in uniform, staring somberly ahead at the camera with a blurred background behind him and the caption below: “Remembering 9/11.” With merciless guilt growing in my stomach, I realized that I had forgotten Remembrance Day, but I was not alone in this.
