AMHERST, MA - The No. 3 seed Amherst College men's soccer team was upset by No. 6 seed Wesleyan University on penalty kicks after playing to a 1-1 double-overtime tie in the first round of the NESCAC Postseason Tournament on Sunday. Wesleyan first-year Jared Ashe (Stamford, CT) scored the game-tying goal to force overtime, and sophomore Garikai Giovati (Harare, Zimbabwe) netted the game-winning shot in the ninth round of penalty kicks to give the Cardinals the win. Senior quad-captain Tim Canon (Easthampton, MA) scored the lone goal for the Jeffs, who are eliminated from the tournament and await word of an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The Jeffs struck first, as senior quad-captain Jeff Cantwell (Randolph, NJ) sent a pretty pass into the box from 40 yards out, and Canon out-jumped Wesleyan keeper Dan Penrod (Piedmont, CA) and headed it into the net just under 17 minutes into the game. The Jeffs held their 1-0 lead for most of the game, but with just over 10 minutes remaining in regulation, Wesleyan junior Reid Ross (Brooklyn, NY) sent a long crossing pass to first-year Peter Glidden (Algodones, NM) who headed the ball to Ashe. Ashe chested the ball to his feet and found the net to even the score at 1-1. Amherst first-year Mike Wohl (Northampton, MA) nearly scored late in the second half, but missed wide right as he collided with Penrod, and Canon had a header sail just over the crossbar in the final seconds, sending the game into overtime. Penalty kicks would decide a victor, as neither side could muster a goal in the two extra periods.
Senior quad-captain Mike York (Natick, MA) and sophomores Joe Gannon (Hanson, MA) and Adrien de Bontin (Kenilworth, IL) all netted kicks in the first five shooters for Amherst, but Wesleyan senior Tivon Sidorsky (Shelburne Falls, MA) and juniors Javier Gaston-Greenberg (Brooklyn, NY) and Mike Trofa (Wilton, CT) matched the Jeffs to send the game to sudden-death penalty kicks. Both teams matched each other for three more rounds of kicks before Giovati scored after an Amherst miss in the ninth round to give the visiting Cardinals the victory.
Amherst sophomore goalkeeper Greg Lockwood (Vancouver, WA) collected five saves in the loss, while his Wesleyan counterpart, Penrod, tallied eight. Wesleyan advances to the semifinals of the NESCAC tournament against No. 1 seed Williams College in Williamstown, MA on Saturday at Noon.
