Defending Champ Middlebury Earns Top Seed for First Time

HADLEY, Mass. - For the first time in program history, defending NESCAC and NCAA champion Middlebury College has secured the top seed for the 2008 NESCAC Men’s Soccer Championship. On a wild Friday afternoon that saw six teams in contention for three home quarterfinal games, the Panthers will join Amherst, Trinity and Williams in hosting a first round matchup on Sunday, Nov. 2 at 12:00 p.m. The championship format has changed for 2008 from a seven-team field with the top seed earning a first round bye to an eight-team tournament. The highest remaining seed after the quarterfinals will earn the right to host the semifinals and championship on Saturday-Sunday, Nov. 8-9.

Heading into Friday’s regular season finale, the only certainty was that Middlebury (11-1-2, 6-1-2 NESCAC) would be the number-one seed after the Panthers secured the position a week ago. When the dust settled, Bates, Bowdoin, Tufts and Wesleyan all finished tied for fifth in the conference standings with identical winning percentages. The Bobcats and Jumbos both owned 2-1-0 records over the group to separate from the field, and Bates’ 2-0 win at Tufts on Sept. 27 gave it the fifth seed and Tufts the sixth seed. Comparing Wesleyan and Bowdoin head-to-head, the Cardinals’ 1-0 victory over the Polar Bears on Sept. 13 cemented them in the seventh spot, while Bowdoin was relegated to eighth.

Top-seeded Middlebury closed out the regular season with a 1-0 win at Williams on Friday afternoon. The Panthers have only dropped one match so far this season, a 1-0 setback to Bates on Oct. 18, while posting an amazing nine shutouts in their 11 wins. Middlebury will host eighth-seeded Bowdoin (6-7-0, 4-5-0 NESCAC) in a rematch of the Oct. 4 contest that the Panthers won, 1-0 in Brunswick, Maine. After an up-and-down 2-5-0 start to the season, the Polar Bears got hot with a four-game win streak only to cool off by losing their final three. Bowdoin enters Sunday quarterfinal contest after falling to Tufts at home on Friday by a 3-1 score. Sunday’s meeting will be the fifth in playoff history between the two clubs. Middlebury owns a 2-1-1 record against Bowdoin, advancing on penalty kicks after the tie in the 2001 semifinals. The Panthers took the most recent championship contest in the first round of 2006, upsetting the forth-seeded Polar Bears by a 2-1 score.

Amherst (9-3-2, 5-3-1 NESCAC) earned the second seed and the right to host during the final day of the season with a 2-1 overtime victory at Trinity. The Lord Jeffs are unbeaten in eight of their last nine games, going 6-1-2 down the stretch and playing in four overtime affairs. They will host the seventh-seeded Cardinals of Wesleyan (5-7-2, 3-4-2 NESCAC) on Sunday. Wesleyan managed to make the championship field even after posting a 1-3-1 record over their last five conference games thanks to a win over fellow Constitution State resident Connecticut College on Friday afternoon, 2-0. Amherst and Wesleyan played to a 1-1 draw in the only meeting of the regular season on Oct. 18 in Amherst, Mass. In conference postseason play, the Cardinals are 1-0-1 against their quarterfinal foe, earning a 3-2 victory over Amherst in the 2005 final and edging the Lord Jeffs 6-5 in penalty kicks in the 2003 first round. Amherst has reached the semifinals in each of the last three years, while Wesleyan has not made it to the round of four since their 2005 title run as the seventh seed.

While third-seeded Trinity (10-4-0, 5-4-0 NESCAC) fell short to Amherst on Friday, the Bantams still managed to post the best conference record in program history along with earning a first round home game for the first time ever. Trinity will host a dangerous Tufts (8-5-1, 4-5-0 NESCAC), as the sixth-seeded Jumbos head into the quarterfinals having won three of their last four games. The lone loss though came at the hands of the Bantams, 1-0 in overtime on Oct. 25 in Hartford, Conn. Sunday’s showdown between the two will be the first in the playoffs and could be the first in more ways than one. Trinity has never reached the semifinals in any of its three previous championship appearances, while Tufts, which missed the playoff field for the first time ever last fall, made its only semifinal showing during the 2001 tournament.

The remaining quarterfinal contest pits fourth-seeded Williams (7-5-2, 4-4-1 NESCAC) against one of the conference’s most surprising squads as of late, fifth-seeded Bates (9-5-0, 4-5-0 NESCAC). To the players, it may seem like last year when these two teams met after both opened the conference slate against one another on Sept. 13, a 1-0 Ephs win in Lewiston, Maine. After going 7-2-0 to open the season, Williams hit a rough patch to close out the regular season, posting a 0-3-2 record in its last five matches. Bates, on the other hand, looked to be out of the playoff picture, holding a 1-5-0 conference mark with three games remaining before an impressive winning streak - including a 1-0 victory over previously-unbeaten Middlebury on Oct. 18 - catapulted the Bobcats into the championship. Sunday’s quarterfinal match will be the second in championship history for the Ephs and the Bobcats. Williams earned a 3-0 victory in the 2006 semifinals, the only time Bates has advanced past the first round.

2008 NESCAC MEN’S SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP
Quarterfinals - Sunday, November 2 at Higher Seeds
No. 8 Bowdoin at No. 1 Middlebury - 12:00 p.m.
No. 7 Wesleyan at No. 2 Amherst - 12:00 p.m.
No. 6 Tufts at No. 3 Trinity - 12:00 p.m.
No. 5 Bates at No. 4 Williams - 12:00 p.m.

Semifinals - Saturday, November 8 at Highest Remaining Seed
11:00 a.m./1:30 p.m.

Championship - Sunday, November 9
Semifinal winners - 12:00 p.m.