WILLIAMSTOWN, MA - First-year Amherst College striker Tracy Montigny (East Granby, CT) finished a deflection off a header from senior tri-captain Margaret Rubin (McLean, VA) with 1:44 remaining in the second sudden-death overtime to lift the Jeffs to a heart-stopping 2-1 victory over archrival Williams College in the championship game of the NESCAC Women's Soccer Tournament Sunday at Williams. With the win, Amherst spoiled the Ephs' perfect 14-0 record and guaranteed themselves a bid in the NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Championship Tournament, with seedings and pairings to be released later Sunday night.
Sunday's rematch of Williams' 2-0 victory over the Jeffs on October 13 started out well for the visitors, who had the better part of play for most of the first half. Behind the tandem of first-year strikers Montigny and Adrienne Showler (Ottawa, Ontario), the Jeffs put together four early scoring chances on the Williams' net. Just into the 16th minute, the offensive pressure paid off when Showler made a beautiful one-on-one move from the top of the right corner of the penalty box to get past her defender and beat junior Williams goalie Abi Jackson. Showler's goal, which came off a feed from sophomore midfielder Jenny Rossman (Newton, MA), would stand through halftime as the game's only tally.
The Jeffs would have several more scoring opportunities in the first half but a pair of shots from Rubin and fellow tri-captain Hallison Putnam (Lexington, KY) missed wide and high, respectively, keeping the Amherst lead at 1-0. In the second half the Ephs, playing before a large and energetic home crowd, began to mount sustained offensive pressure, trapping the Jeffs deep in their defensive end. Thanks to stellar play from junior back Katharine Shipley (Newton, MA) and junior goalkeeper Brooke Diamond (Longmeadow, MA), Amherst kept Williams from capitalizing into the game's waning minutes. But the Williams offense, which spent most of the second half on Amherst's side of midfield, finally came through with the equalizing goal in the 84th minute. After a controversial call on a deep ball that appeared to go out of play for a goal kick, the Ephs were instead awarded a corner kick and the deflected cross found senior Williams' captain C.C. Ciafone, who had a point blank shot that Diamond was unable to stop, settling into the left corner of the net to draw the teams even with 6:07 left in regulation. After the game-tying goal, the Ephs continued to press, but two late saves by Diamond kept the game tied, forcing it to overtime.
In the first extra session, the two teams went back-and-forth with solid scoring chances on both ends. Diamond, who finished with eight saves, kept the Jeffs in it with one of the best games of her career, but her counterpart Jackson was just as good for Williams.
The story changed, however, in the second overtime. The Ephs showed no signs of fatigue, dominating possession for most of the second 15-minute period. The Jeffs, by contrast, were unable to mount any sustained offense and spent most of the period trapped in the defensive third. The Ephs had a golden chance to put the game away in the 109th minute when a long cross found the foot of sophomore Claire Samuel, who had a one-on-one with Diamond. The Amherst junior made what would turn out to be the play of the game with an amazing diving save to her right on the point blank shot by Samuel. Diamond's save gave the Jeffs a chance to regroup offensively and would be Williams' last good scoring chance of the game.
After back-to-back turnovers in the midfield, the Jeffs finally had a run at the Williams' goal in the 119th minute when Rossman found Rubin on a cross from the left wing. Rubin got her head on the ball and after a scrum in front of the goal mouth, the ball somehow ended up on the left foot of Montigny, who sent a shot toward the left post that deflected off a Williams' player and into the back of the net for the dramatic 2-1 final. Montigny's goal, her second overtime game-winner of the year, came at 118:16 and gave the Jeffs the win, the 2001 NESCAC Championship, and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Jeffs, who made five straight NCAA appearances in the mid 1990s, will be going to their first NCAA Tournament since 1998, when they lost to the same Williams team on penalty kicks in the first round.
For the Ephs, who saw their 14-game winning streak snapped, Jackson made seven saves. Williams, which falls to 14-1, should still receive an at-large bid to the 45-team NCAA field when pairings are released on Sunday evening. For the Jeffs, who improved to 11-4-1, the heroes were too numerous to count, with the defense playing a near flawless game led by Diamond and Shipley. Again, however, the Jeffs received their offense from a phenomenal first-year class, with Montigny and Showler picking up their seventh and second goals of the season, respectively.
Amherst, which will be making its sixth all-time NCAA appearance, will either have a first-round game on Wednesday or a bye into Saturday's regionals.
