AMHERST, Mass. -- Two goals in the final 10 minutes Saturday lifted the #6-ranked Amherst women's soccer team to a 3-1 victory over Tufts University in the quarterfinals of the NESCAC Tournament played at Hitchcock Field. 

The win put the Mammoths in the NESCAC semifinals against an opponent to be determined by the outcome of the Conn. College at Bowdoin game slated for tomorrow at 3 p.m. A Conn. win would pit the top-seeded Mammoths against the Camels, a Bowdoin win would mean Amherst faces Wesleyan in a semifinal on Saturday, Nov. 4. Regardless of the opponent, Amherst will host the semifinals and championship of the NESCAC Tournament next Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 4-5. 

The win over Tufts, their second of this season, lifted the Mammoths to a 14-1-1 record. Tufts fell to 7-5-4 on the season. 

GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

* With under nine minutes left in the quarterfinal game Saturday, Amherst junior Fiona Bernet lined up a free kick from 24 yards out after Abby Schwartz had drawn a foul. Her shot was perfect, rising past the wall of Jumbos 10 yards back and then sailing into the upper 90 of the far left side of the goal untouched for a 2-1 Amherst lead. It was Bernet's fifth goal of the season. 

* Nursing that 2-1 lead, Amherst was able to get a win-clinching goal on play started in its own box, as goalkeeper Mika Fisher booted a clear just past midfield that Bernet put her head on and directed the ball toward the Tufts goal. First-year Precious Novidzro ran onto the ball, grounding it skillfully about 30 yards out, then dribbling around one Tufts defender and streaking into the box, where she slipped past another Jumbo into a 1 v. 1 situation with Jumbo keeper Gigi Edwards, beating the goalie with a shot into the lower right side of the goal with only 2:43 remaining. 

* Patience Kum had given the Mammoths lead with 17:25 left in the first half. Novidzro made a nice play at midfield along the left sideline, backheeling a pass that Bernet ran onto, then finding Kum in the Tufts box with a  pinpoint pass. Kum tried to beat her defender and the two played pinball for a few second before Kum collected the ball neat the top of the box, spun to her right and delivered a pinpoint shot that beat Edwards into the lower right-hand corner of the goal for the 1-0 lead. 

With 10:55 to go in the first half, Tufts nearly tied it up off a cornerkick that sailed over Fisher in the Amherst box and was headed into the goal, but was somehow blocked by Charlotte Huang before it crossed the goaline. 

* Tufts trailed 1-0 at the half, but would find the equalizer just over 10 minutes into the second stanza when Waverly Sumner took a rocket of a shot from the top left corner of the box that found the crossbar, came down and deflected off a Mammoth and into the goal.



BY THE NUMBERS:

* Each team had 15 shots in the game, but the Mammoths put nine on goal while Tufts managed just five. Fisher made 4 saves in her return to the line-up. 

* Amherst had four corner kicks in the game, while Tufts had just the one. 

* It will be the third straight year Amherst has hosted the semifinal and championship of the NESCAC Tournament.