AMHERST — The Amherst College women’s soccer team advanced to the NESCAC Tournament semifinals with a 6-1 win over Connecticut College on Saturday afternoon.
The Amherst offense unleashed 15 shots, 14 on goal, while its defense held its own against the fast Connecticut offense.
“Our back three in particular were solid,” Amherst coach Jen Hughes said about her team’s defensive play, particularly in the second half.
No. 2-seeded Amherst (13-2-1) will play No. 3 Middlebury (13-3-0) at 1:30 p.m., Saturday at Williams.
“I firmly believe with every fiber in my being that this team can win a NESCAC championship,” Hughes said.
Amherst started the game playing to its strengths and scored early. Five minutes in, Amherst’s leading scorer Hannah Guzzi scored off a feed from fellow striker Rubii Tamen. Guzzi scored again in the last minute of the first half off a ball from Maeve McNamara to give Amherst a two-goal edge heading into halftime.
The Camels cut the deficit in half when Zoe Stublarec scored 15 minutes in to the second.
The goal turned momentum in favor of Connecticut and the Amherst defense had to adjust. Goalkeeper Chelsea Cutler stood tall as she faced 10 shots and made three key saves in the second half preserving the Amherst lead.
“We had a lot of people step up in the back today that we needed to step up,” said senior midfielder Ashlyn Heller. “That’s pretty much why we won the game.”
Heller scored Amherst’s third goal with a shot from inside the 18-yard box with 10 minutes remaining and gave Amherst all of the momentum to finish out the game. Heller was visibly emotional after her goal.
“I’m a senior so any game on this field at the end of the season is going to be emotional,” Heller said. “I got emotional about that and I also just love this team.”
Tamen followed Heller’s lead and scored a minute and a half later to give Amherst a three-goal advantage. A minute later, Emily Masten rocketed one to the top-right corner for a 5-1 lead.
The offensive surge didn’t stop there. Tamen scored her second goal when a ball from McNamara was headed by Guzzi and fell in front of Tamen with a little over five minutes remaining in the game.
“We hung on long enough to give us time to shift the momentum,” Hughes said. “We got the job done.”
Amherst kept Connecticut College’s leading goal scorer Alex Baltazar pointless due to Morgan Machiele’s tight defense throughout the game
“(Baltazar) is a good player and she’s a handful,” Hughes said. “We needed somebody to shut her down and I think Morgan did a really nice job of that.”