AMHERST, Mass. -- The second-ranked Amherst
College men's soccer team earned a hard-fought 2-1 win over
Bridgewater State College Wednesday evening under the lights of
Gooding Field. The Lord Jeffs improve to 2-0 on the season, while
the Bears fall to 2-3.
Amherst junior Ian Rothkopf (Harvard, MA) scored
two goals in a span of 50 seconds in the opening half, with senior
Chris Devine (Auburn, MA) recording the assist on
each. Sophomore Chris Swindell (Milford, MA)
scored Bridgewater's lone goal in the 50th minute.
Sophomore Lennard Kovacs (Wolfersdorf, Germany)
made a pair of saves to earn the win and improve to 2-0 on the
year, with senior co-captain Ryan Seifert (Ludlow,
MA) stopping four shots in the losing effort. Amherst out-shot the
Bears by a 13-5 margin, with each team taking three corner kicks on
the night.
The Jeffs put pressure on the Bears' defense early. Just three
minutes into the contest sophomore James Mooney
(Princeton, NJ) played a ball ahead to junior forward Chris
Linsmayer (Denver, CO), who was thrown into a footrace
with the Bridgewater keeper. Linsmayer got to the ball first and
tried to loft a shot over Seifert, but his attempt bounced off the
crossbar.
Just two-and-a-half minutes later a Devine cross from the left wing
hit the far post and bounced out toward sophomore Henry
Rouse (Birmingham, AL), whose one-timer on the rebound
went just wide of the goal.
Amherst finally got on the board when a throw-in from Devine made
its way into the box, with Rothkopf flicking the ball into the net
for the game's first goal at the 22:54 mark. Less than one minute
later the two Lord Jeffs connected once again, this time with
Rothkopf heading in a Devine corner kick at 23:44.
The Bears put together solid runs of their own late in the first
half. With nine minutes to play junior Mike White
(Canton, MA) had possession just inside the 18 on the right side
and ripped a waist-high shot to the far post, but Kovacs played the
shot perfectly to make a diving stop. Bridgewater had another good
chance on a corner kick attempt with 5:30 remaining in the half
before senior co-captain Matt Daniels (South
Easton, MA) sent a header into the side netting one minute
later.
The hosts carried their 2-0 lead into halftime with a 9-2 advantage
in shots and a 5-1 edge in shots on goal. It wouldn't take long,
however, for the Bears to cut their deficit in half as Swindell
scored his second goal of the season. Swindell beat an Amherst
defender and forced Kovacs to come off his line, giving himself
plenty of time to send a chip past the Lord Jeff keeper and make it
a 2-1 game with 40:37 remaining in regulation. It was the first
goal the Jeffs had allowed on the season.
The next 25 minutes were physical-but clean-and evenly matched.
Amherst began to regain control with 15 minutes left in the half,
as only eight minutes separated two corner kicks and a pair of
promising free kicks for the Lord Jeffs.
Bridgewater State made a strong push in the final four minutes of
the game, with Daniels giving his team the best chance by ripping a
shot from inside the 18, but his attempt from the left side was
knocked away by Kovacs. On the ensuing corner kick, first-year
Simao Mendes (Brockton, MA) sent a header over the
net. The Bears' last chance came on a free kick from 40 yards out
with 15 seconds left on the clock, but they were unable to put a
shot on goal.
Amherst dominated the stat sheet in the first half, but the
visitors were out-shot only 4-3 in the second half. The Bears also
played more physical in the second frame, holding a 6-4 advantage
in fouls.