Williams Downs Connecticut College 3-0 in Men's Soccer Quarterfinals
Courtesy Williams Sports Information
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – The stage was different but the result was the same as the Williams College men’s soccer team defeated Connecticut College 3-0 in the opening round of the 2009 NESCAC Championship Sunday at Cole Field. Williams previously collected a 4-0 victory against the Camels in their regular season meeting on Sept. 19 in Williamstown.
The second seeded Ephs (12-2-1) advance to the semifinals where they will play fourth seeded Bowdoin on November 7th at Wesleyan College. The Camels end their first season under head coach Kenny Murphy, their first appearance in the postseason since 2007, with a record of 8-6-1 (5-4 NESCAC).
Williams forward Charles Romero was the catalyst for the Eph attack as he notched the game-winner in the 25th minute and assisted on the games other two scores.
Williams pressured the visitors throughout, blasting the Camel net with 27 shots while only allowing five.
All those shots translated into a score at the 24:07 mark of the first half when Nick Pugiliese volleyed the ball into the box where it connected with the heads of Will Whiston and Pierre Meloty-Kapella before Romero redirected it midflight past Camel keeper Alex Martland (eight saves) to put the Ephs up 1-0.
Despite several chances on both sides, the score would remain the same for the remainder of the first half.
Williams added to their advantage ten minutes into the second half, this time after Martland made an excellent diving stop to turn aside an Eph shot only to see the deflection hang in the air in the box. The Ephs Gaston Kelly was right there and used a dive of his own to head the ball into the net, giving Williams the 2-0 lead.
The Ephs would add another insurance score off of a corner kick set piece 12 minutes later. Kelly ripped an excellent line drive from the corner which barely grazed the head of Romero on the near post giving it just the boost to clear the Camel defense and find the head of Will Whiston on the far post who knocked it home, making it 3-0 with 23 minutes to play.
Connecticut College had some late opportunities but Eph keeper Andrew Graham (one save) and the Williams defense held true and delivered Williams the victory.
