AMHERST – The Amherst College women’s soccer team advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division III Tournament Saturday with a 4-0 shutout victory against Lasell.
Amherst (16-2- 1) started the game with speed, energy and an early lead. Rubii Tamen capped off the fast start with a goal just eight minutes into the game. The tally was Tamen’s seventh goal on the season and fifth since playoffs began.
“She’s a presence,” head coach Jen Hughes said of Tamen. “I think she is peaking and she is peaking at the right time. She is someone the other teams need to defend and it just gives us a lot of options up top.”
Five minutes later, senior Ashlyn Heller scored an unassisted goal off a rebound. The goal was first called offside but after consultation with the sideline judge, the referee signaled for a good goal.
“One key to today’s game was scoring early and we were up 2-0 20 minutes into the game,” Hughes said. “I think that was something we really needed to do to be successful today and we did it.”
Amherst continued to pressure the Lasell (18-3- 1) defense and extended its lead to 3-0 in the 30 th minute when Hannah Guzzi found the ball and drilled it above the reach of Lasell goalkeeper Sarah LaClair for her 16 goal of the season. (LaClair is from Belchertown and was a standout for the Belchertown High School girls soccer team.)
Freshman Sloan Askins sealed Lasell’s fate in the second half with Amherst’s fourth goal. The win extended Amherst’s winning streak to 13 games and snapped the Laser’s winning streak at 18.
Amherst will play Swarthmore at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday Nov. 13 at Hitchcock Field in Amherst.