NEW LONDON, CT - Amherst College women's soccer first-year Tracy Montigny (East Granby, CT) rebounded her own miss in the 109th minute to lift the visiting Jeffs to a dramatic 2-1 come-from-behind overtime victory at host Connecticut College on Saturday. With the win, the Jeffs improved to 4-0 on the season and 3-0 in NESCAC play heading into Tuesday's conference showdown with Trinity College.
The first half of Saturday afternoon's NESCAC bout saw back-and-forth play with the Jeffs claiming the better of the scoring opportunities. Senior Conn. goalie Laura Knisely (Great Falls, VA) came up with five first half saves, while her counterpart, Amherst senior Hallison Putnam (Lexington, KY) made four of her own to send the game to halftime scoreless.
With first-year Paige Diamond (Longmeadow, MA), the younger sister of regular Amherst goalie Brooke Diamond (Longmeadow, MA), in goal to start the second half for the Camels, the hosts began to mount sustained offensive pressure. That pressure paid off in the 60th minute when Camel senior Lena Eckhoff (Brattleboro, VT) was left all alone on a breakaway with Putnam. The senior made a nifty move to beat the Amherst netminder, giving Conn. a 1-0 advantage.
Playing before a large and energetic Homecoming crowd, the Camels continued to press, but as the game wore on, the Amherst midfield, led by sophomore Jenny Rossman (Newton, MA) and senior tri-captain Cathy Poor (Harwich Port, MA), helped Amherst regain offensive momentum. The Camel lead, however, would last into the game's waning minutes before Poor took advantage of a deflected cross from first-year Adrienne Showler (Ottowa, Ontario), besting Knisely, who had re-entered the game in goal. Poor's equalizing goal, which came with 4:01 remaining in regulation, was her 30th career tally, and sent the game into overtime.
Both teams had numerous chances in the extra period. The first two opportunities came from Amherst as Poor was denied twice - first by Knisely and second by the crossbar - in a span of three minutes. The two attempts from Poor, both headers off Rossman corner kicks, would be Amherst's only legitimate scoring chances of the first 15-minute overtime period. In the second OT, the Camels nearly won it, but Putnam wrapped up a deflected header off a corner kick.
As overtime wound down, the Jeffs took advantage of a defensive lapse in the Conn. midfield to advance the ball to Montigny, who drove past the Camel defense for a one-on-one with Knisely. Montigny's first shot was deflected by Knisely, which precipitated another shot, stopped by Knisely again. Knisely appeared to have wrapped up the rebound, but somehow it came free and Montigny pounced, tapping her third goal of the season into the back of the Camel net at the 109:37 mark.
For the game, Amherst outshot the Camels 28-13, led by Poor, who became the first player in school-history to record goals in four consecutive games. With the win, Amherst improves to 4-0 on the season and remains tied for first place in the NESCAC. Conn. falls to 2-3, 1-3 in the NESCAC, returning to action when they host UMass-Dartmouth on Wednesday. Amherst will look to go to 4-0 in the NESCAC and 5-0 overall when they host Trinity on Tuesday afternoon.
