AMHERST — The No. 2-seeded Amherst College men’s soccer team came back to defeat Bowdoin in the NESCAC semifinals on Saturday, 2-1 at Hitchcock Field. Amherst now moves their record to 15-1-1 on the season.
After an initial goal by Bowdoin in the 74th minute of play, Amherst came back and scored two goals to defeat the Polar Bears and advance to the NESCAC finals for the first time since 2014.
Amherst (15-1-1) will host No. 4 Hamilton on Sunday at noon at Hitchcock field. Hamilton (10-6-1) defeated Middlebury on Saturday, 2-1, to advance. This will be the Continentals’ first appearance in the NESCAC tournament finals.
“I’ll tell you one thing about this group, they don’t quit,” said Amherst coach Justin Serpone. “That’s why they’re champions.”
The first half saw a stalemate between the two sides, with Bowdoin having only one shot, and Amherst with six. Scoring opportunities were scarce, and both sides played physically.
Bowdoin opened the scoring with a goal by freshman Will Herman.
Amherst came back in the 80th minute, as freshman Dane Lind took the ball to the goal and Bowdoin conceded an own goal to make the score 1-1.
Less than two minutes later, junior Weller Hlinomaz took the ball down the pitch for Amherst and got past Bowdoin goalie Noah Safian to make the score 2-1.
Both sides played physically, which resulted in verbal fights and shoving matches among the players.
“Our coach always says that the most physical team will win the game between us and Bowdoin, every single time,” Hlinomaz said. “We have to be more physical and we’ll get the result we want.”
In Amherst’s 2-0 win against Hamilton during the regular season, junior Cam Hardington and senior captain Jackson Lehnhart each scored a goal in the first 10 minutes of play.
Sunday’s winner will automatically qualify for the NCAA Division III Tournament, which starts Nov. 12.
Jacqui Collins is a journalism student at UMass who can be reached at jacquicollins913@gmail.com and followed for game coverage at @Jacqui9Collins