The Tripod

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The Trinity College men's soccer team entered a ruthless battle against the Amherst College Lord Jeffs on Friday, Oct. 31. The Bantams had just previously pulled out a victory against Tufts University in overtime and took the Lord Jeffs into extra minutes as well.

Trinity was the first to score in the 17th minute. Senior goalkeeper Zac Trudeau kicked the ball the length of the field and an Amherst defender cleared it. This allowed Amherst goalkeeper Lennard Kovacs '12 to extend out of the net. Nick Cantone '12 retrieved the ball and took advantage of the out-of-position keeper. He launched the ball from forty yards out on the left side and scored, giving the Bantams their only lead of the game at 1-0.

Amherst continued to attack the goal, but the Bantams defense, led by Phil Yeager '09, Doug Stupay '11, Jason Kulik '10, and John Graves '10, was able to hold them off for the next 51 minutes.

The intensity increased and the two teams became more physical. A total of six yellow cards were distributed between both teams.

The score remained stagnant until the remaining twenty-two minutes in the second half. Lord Jeffs freshman James Mooney quickly shot the ball after receiving a perfect pass from Nick Lynch '09 to tie the game. The game then went into a ten-minute overtime. Amherst junior Mark Crane passed the ball to sophomore Ian Roskopf. Roskopf was able to beat his defender and passed the ball to senior captain Jake Duker, which setup a one-on-one opportunity between Duker and Trudeau. With 1:45 left in overtime, Duker launched the ball passed Trudeau to win the game 2-1.

According to senior tri-captain Dan Kupper, "we played hard and at times we strung together some nice sequences. We just have to put this game behind us and look ahead to Sunday against Tufts."

Trinity finished their regular season ranked 2nd in New England and 22nd in the nation with a record of 10-4 overall (5-4 in the NESCAC). Amherst finished with an overall record of 9-3-2 and 5-3-1 in the NESCAC, ranking them 10th in New England. On Sunday, Nov. 2, Trinity played against Tufts University in the quarterfinals of the NESCAC Championship.

The Bantams' loss to Amherst fueled their competitive drive to come out strong against the Tufts Jumbos. The Jumbos were caught off guard as the Bantams produced a nearly flawless game of soccer for the first twenty-five minutes of the game. According to Kupper, "We came out with a high level of intensity and dominated possession from the kick off and communicated well all over the field."

The Bantams teamwork paid off as they continued to attack Jumbo goalkeeper David McKeon '09. After shots on goal by Peter Marlette '11 and Sam Wisner '10, Cantone was able to rebound the ball and place it past McKeon, giving the Bantams a 1-0 lead they refused to lose.

Junior midfielder Chris Doran scored his first goal of the season to ensure the Bantams win in the 77th minute at 2-0. Marlette broke his defender down and then passed the ball to Doran to pick up the assist. The defense and midfield were able to shut down the Tufts offense. According to Wisner, "We were clutch when we needed to be because our season was on the line and we, as a team, showed up ready for NESCACs and produced by playing our best soccer thus far."

Regarding their advancement in the postseason, Kupper added, "We are now focusing on playing Amherst next week at Middlebury College."

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