HADLEY, Mass. – Top-seeded Amherst will host the NESCAC Semifinals and Final on November 5-6 at Hitchcock Field for the second year in a row. The 2022 championship marks the first time since 2004 that only one of the top four seeds has advanced to the championship weekend. Amherst will meet No. 7 Tufts in the first semifinal at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 5. The No. 6-seeded Wesleyan Cardinals will take on No. 5 Trinity in the second semifinal at 1:30 p.m. The semifinal winners meet on Sunday, Nov. 6 at noon for the NESCAC title.
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Championship Central
2022 NESCAC WOMEN'S SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP
Saturday, October 29 at Higher Seeds
Quarterfinals
No. 1 Amherst def. No. 8 Conn. College, 3-0
No. 7 Tufts def. No. 2 Williams, 2-0
No. 6 Wesleyan tied No. 3 Bowdoin, 0-0 (2OT)
Wesleyan advanced on PKs, 5-3
No. 5 Trinity def. No. 4 Middlebury, 2-1
Saturday, November 5 at Amherst
Semifinals
No. 7 Tufts vs. No. 1 Amherst - 11 a.m.
No. 6 Wesleyan vs. No. 5 Trinity - 1:30 p.m.
Sunday, November 6 at Amherst
Final - 12 p.m. - Semifinal winners
Amherst (14-2-0) eased past Conn. College, 3-0, to advance to the semifinals for the sixth straight season. Junior Abby Schwartz leads the NESCAC in points (30), goals (11), and assists (8) and has registered at least one point in five of the last six games. Junior Mika Fisher has played nearly every minute in goal and owns a 0.74 goals against average and .836 save percentage to go with six shutouts. The Mammoths have outscored opponents 48 to 11 this season and have surrendered just two goals over the last eight games where Amherst holds an 8-0-0 record. The Mammoths won their fifth NESCAC title in 2019, the same year as their last appearance in the championship match.
Tufts (10-4-2) used goals by first-year Elsi Aires in the 75th minute and senior Maddie Pero in the 84th minute to blank No. 2 Williams, 2-0, and reach the semifinals for the first time since 2019. The Jumbos are the first No. 7 seed since 2017 to reach the semifinal round. Junior Thalia Greenberg leads the team in scoring with 15 points (7G, 1A) and sophomore Caroline O’Neil has a team-high six assists and 10 points. In net, senior Hayley Bernstein has played in 14 games, starting 10, and owns a 0.63 goals against average and .833 save percentage. Bernstein played all 90 minutes of the quarterfinal match against the Ephs and was credited with eight saves. Classmate Kaelin Logue has appeared in 13 games with six starts and a 0.77 goals against average to go with a .865 save percentage.
Amherst is 2-0-1 versus Tufts in the NESCAC Championship series. The Mammoths picked up their second win in the series with a 3-0 victory in the 2019 semifinals. The Jumbos had the upper hand in the regular season, posting a 2-0 victory at Amherst on September 17, the only loss the Mammoths have suffered on their home field this season (7-1-0).
Trinity (7-3-6) is making the program’s fourth appearance in the semifinal round and first since 2016, the same year the Bantams reached the championship game. Senior Mia Fusco and junior Dot Tilden each notched goals to lift the Bantams past No. 4 Middlebury, 2-1. Fusco’s goal gave Trinity a 1-0 halftime lead and Tilden doubled the lead in the 57th minute. The Bantams held off the Panthers the rest of the way for their first win at Middlebury since 2010. Juniors Gabby Grattan (3-0-6) and Cassie Lee (2-2-6), along with first-year Elena Lindonen (3-0-6) are tied for the team lead in points. Junior Mariana Cournoyer has played every minute in goal for the Bantams and leads the NESCAC in goals against average (.563), save percentage (.893), and shutouts (7). The Trinity defense has allowed just nine goals this season.
Wesleyan (7-4-5), the 2021 NESCAC Runners-Up, advanced to the semifinals for the second consecutive season via a penalty-kick shootout victory (5-3) over No. 3 Bowdoin. The Cardinals went 5-for-5 in the shootout and first-year Molly Brumbach came off the bench to serve as the Wesleyan goalkeeper in the shootout and made one stop to help seal the victory. Senior Grace Devanny has 16 points (6G, 4A) in 16 starts and classmate Dani Milovanov has also registered six goals and 15 points. Sarah Hammond, a graduate student, has the second lowest goals against average in the NESCAC (0.57) and a .860 save percentage. The Cardinals are unbeaten at 3-0-3 in their last six matches.
The semifinal match marks the first meeting between Trinity and Wesleyan in the NESCAC Championship. Wesleyan is 1-2-0 in the semifinals, including last year’s victory, while Trinity also owns a 1-2-0 mark in the semifinal round. Trinity defeated the Cardinals, 1-0, on September 24 in the regular season.
