Amherst Earns First Men's Soccer Crown with 2-0 Victory at Middlebury
Courtesy Middlebury Athletic Communications
MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – Amherst won its first NESCAC title with
a 2-0 victory over defending champion Middlebury in the final of
the 2008 NESCAC Men's Soccer Championship. The Lord Jeffs pick up
their first title game win in four appearances, as they improve to
12-3-2 overall, earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The Panthers move to 13-2-2 overall in 2008 and are expected to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA’s when the pairing are announced Sunday night.
Amherst came out strong with pressure on the Panthers for the first 30 minutes of the game. The Jeffs struck 15 minutes in as Jake Duker scored his 13th goal in 16 games as he one-timed a low hard crossing pass from Nick Lynch for the goal. The assist was his team-leading ninth of the season for Lynch.
Amherst struck again just 3:51 later as Jay Heo found the back of the net for his 11th of the year. Lynch made a centering pass to Duker, whose shot hit the post and rebounded right to Heo, as he gave his team a 2-0 lead early.
Middlebury came back for the final 15 minutes of the half with some pressure in the Amherst end, but could not get on the board. Lennard Kovacs kept it a 2-0 game for the Jeffs with one save, as well as a nice deflection of a Stephen Hart shot over the crossbar.
After being outshot 5-2 in the first half, Middlebury returned the favor in the second session. The Panthers pressured the Jeffs on several occasions, including five corner kicks and one direct kick between the 68th and 71st minutes of the second half.
The Amherst defense held tough and though Middlebury threatened, the Panthers did not have any great chances to break up the shutout.
Kovacs ended the game with three saves for his fifth shutout of the season, while Brian Bush made two saves for the Panthers.
2008 NESCAC MEN’S
SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP
Quarterfinals - Sunday, November 2 at Higher Seeds
at No.
1 Middlebury 3, No. 8 Bowdoin 0
at No.
2 Amherst 2, No. 7 Wesleyan 0
at No.
3 Trinity 2, No. 6 Tufts 0
at No.
4 Williams 3, No. 5 Bates 1
Semifinals - Saturday,
November 8 at Middlebury
at No.
1 Middlebury 1, No. 4 Williams 0
No. 2
Amherst 1, vs. No. 3 Trinity 0
Championship - Sunday,
November 9 at Middlebury
No. 2 Amherst 2, at No. 1 Middlebury 0
