The Middlebury Campus

Issue date: 11/8/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: File Photo/Ryan Scura Defender Brianna Wolfson scored the Ephs' first two goals on Saturday. [Click to enlarge]

On a frigid day at Cole Field in Williamstown, Mass., the Middlebury women's soccer team fell to Williams 4-1, bringing the 2007 season to a close. The Nov. 3 face-off, a NESCAC semifinal game, was the second meeting for the Ephs and Panthers this year. Williams won the regular season contest against Middlebury with a 4-0 shutout at Middlebury's Dragone Field. In contrast to the balanced play in October, Williams controlled Saturday's semi-final rematch from the beginning.

The box score sums up the game pretty clearly. Williams had 16 corner kicks compared to one for the Panthers, and the Panthers' lone attempt came late in the second half. The shot differential, though not as dominating, also ended in Williams' favor, 14-8.

Coming into the game, the Panthers knew they faced a tremendous team. The Ephs were an undefeated 14-0 on the year and led the NESCAC in just about every major statistic. Most remarkably, they had allowed only three goals over the course of the entire season and Lauren Sinnenberg, the Williams goalie, had an unfathomable 0.21 goals-against-average.

Middlebury seemed ready to pounce after their upset of third-seeded Amherst in the NESCAC quarterfinal. Middlebury was the only lower seeded team to pull off an upset in the first round of the tournament.

"We were confident going into the match," said Middlebury coach Peter Kim. "Although [Williams] beat us by a substantial margin last month, we felt the result was more our doing than theirs. We were determined to come out and play them, and felt we were the most likely team to beat Williams this year."

"[Williams is] a great team, with skill especially in their attacking players," said Caitlin Parker '09, who scored Middlebury's only goal on the day. "Williams is a fun team for us to play, and the game is usually very competitive." Competitive and physical summed up the game perfectly - the two teams racked up 20 fouls in the contest, continuing the rough play usually expected of a Williams-Middlebury contest.

Continued...

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