Chestnut Hill, Mass. – Owning a 1-0 edge heading into intermission, the Purple & White erupted to score four second half goals as the Amherst College men's soccer team shut out non-conference opponent Pine Manor, 5-0 Sunday afternoon at Hedley Field.

"John Shimer has done a terrific job in a short amount of time at Pine Manor," commented head coach Justin Serpone. "They won 10 games last season and they have a bright future with a good young coach. I thought they fought hard today and made it difficult for us."

With the win, Amherst improves to 3-0-1 on the season, while the Gators fall to 1-4-0 overall. Amherst returns to action for its home opener on Saturday, Sept. 24 when they welcome archrival Williams College to Hitchcock field for a 2:30 p.m. matchup.

Amherst broke through on its fifth shot of the game, as Fikayo Ajayi '19 tallied the first goal of his collegiate career and the game-winner in the 32nd minute to give Amherst a 1-0 lead. Collecting a throw in from Cameron Hardington '18, Dane Lind '20 sent a pinpoint pass to Ajayi who sent a shot past Gator goalie Oscar Estrada and into the netting. 

Entering the second half with a one goal lead, the Purple & White exploded for four goals, including three penalty kick conversions, to secure the 5-0 shut out victory.

Turning up the offensive pressure, Amherst drew two Pine Manor infractions inside the box to earn back-to-back penalty kicks at the 53:33 and 54:41 marks. Tabbed to take the first kick, Christopher Martin '17 took advantage of the opportunity and doubled the Purple & White lead, before Bryce Ciambella '17 drilled his attempt and extended Amherst's lead to three.

The Purple & White scored two more times in the final 13 minutes with Jimmy McMillian '20 and Aidan Murray '18 both notching their first collegiate career goals. McMillian scored an unassisted tally with 12:02 remaining, while Murray converted on Amherst's third penalty kick of the game at the 80:40 mark.

"It was great to see Aidan, Fikayo and Jimmy get their first career goals today," said Serpone. "It's amazing that Aidan hasn't scored before today because he's done so many great things for us over the past two years – his assist on the OT goal that took us to the Final Four was just one of the important plays he's made."

GAME NOTES

• Lee Owen '18 (3-0-1) earned the win in between the pipes for the Purple & White in 78:34 in goal, while Will Dunne '20 tallied 11:26 in net in relief. Oscar Estrada (1-4-0) registered seven saves in the loss for the Gators.
• Aziz Khan '18 led the match with with four shots in the outing, while a quartet of Amherst players put two shots on target apiece.
• Amherst edged Pine Manor in both shots and corner kicks, 19-3 and 7-2, respectively.