CLINTON, N.Y. – Junior Wyatt McCarthy, sophomore Niall Murphy, junior Shawn Rapal, and First-year Ioannis Hadjiyianni were on the score sheet Saturday as the #16 Amherst College men's soccer team beat the #25 Hamilton College Continentals 4-0 on Love Field. 

GAME HIGHLIGHTS:
* Amherst began their penultimate game of the regular season with fast passing moves which opened up several scoring opportunities to take an early lead. Hamilton also demonstrated their attacking threats and forced Amherst's goalkeeper, senior Bernie White, to make a save mid-way through the first half. It took 39 minutes for the deadlock to be broken in favor of the Mammoths. During the first goal, Hamilton's goalkeeper, Ben Ziegler, reached above a congested group of Mammoths and Continentals to punch a floating ball out of the penalty box with two gloves. The punch was cleared only as far as oncoming junior Wyatt McCarthy who beautifully volleyed the ball first-time from the edge of the penalty box. With Ziegler on the ground, the ball flew into the center of the goal and scraped the roof of the net as it went in.

* The second half began with a 1-0 lead for the Mammoths. This advantage was doubled in the 58th minute with a goal that was just as sublime as the first. Sophomore Niall Murphy, with the ball around ten yards from the edge of the penalty box, executed a one-two of one-touch passing with Junior Ada Okorogheye to beat a defender. On the receiving end of Okorogheye's pass, Murphy took on the shot from just outside the box which gave Ziegler no chance as the ball passed him into the left side of the goal. 

* In the 80th minute, junior Shawn Rapal netted his first goal of the season to make the score 3-0. The 6'8 forward towered over defenders and added to Amherst's lead with a header placed down into the bottom right corner of the goal. Sophomore Fynn Hayton-Ruffner provided the assist with an accurate cross.

* For the fourth goal two minutes later, Senior Alex Shahmirzadi took a long throw-in from the sideline into the penalty box. Sophomore Simon Kalinauskas calmly flicked the ball on with his head to First-year Ioannis Hadjiyiannis standing behind him. Hadjiyiannis, with space in between Continentals defenders, directed the header down from short range. 

BY THE NUMBERS:
* Amherst now holds an 8-1-5 overall record (3-1-5 in NESCAC) for the season. 

* Up next: Amherst will play its final game of its regular season versus NESCAC opponents, the Trinity College Bantams, on Wednesday at 7 p.m. on the Trinity Soccer Field in Hartford, Connecticut.

* The Mammoths took 15 shots (7 on goal); Hamilton took 8 shots (5 on goal).