Amherst, Mass. – Sophomore Alejandro Sucre (Caracas, Venezuela) scored the game's lone goal in the 24th minute to lead the Amherst College Lord Jeff men's soccer team to a 1-0 win over the visiting Trinity College Bantams this afternoon at Hitchcock Field. Trinity finishes its season at 6-7-1 overall and 2-6-1 in the NESCAC with its second loss in a row, and fails to earn a bid to the post-season due to a tiebreaker rule despite finishing in a three-way tie for the eighth position in the standings. Amherst increased its winning streak to five games to close the regular season with a 10-1-3 overall record and a 5-1-3 NESCAC mark, and will host Colby College in the quarterfinal round. Amherst has defeated Trinity in 12 consecutive games with each of the past eight meetings decided by only one goal.
In the 21st minute of action Amherst senior Spencer Noon (Farmington, Conn.) carried the ball down the left sideline before finding an open Chris Lerner (Canton, Mass.). Lerner blasted a shot from 25 yards out to mark the game's first shot on goal, but Trinity goalkeeper junior Grant Schonberg (Mendham, N.J.) was there to punch the ball over the net. Three minutes later Amherst senior Ian Rothkopf '11 (Harvard, Mass.) sent in a cross from the right wing. Schonberg got to the ball first and punched it away, but Noon kept the pressure on by heading it back toward the goal. Sucre provided the finishing touch on the play, sending a header past Schonberg to give the hosts a 1-0 lead 23:43 into the contest. The first half ended with a flurry of activity in front of the Trinity goal. After Schonberg came up with a save on a corner kick, a shot by Sucre hit the post and the rebound by freshman Max Fikke (New York, N.Y.) was denied by the Bantam goalie.
Four minutes into the second half Trinity senior midfielder Matthew O'Connell (Cohasset, Mass.) ripped a shot from 25 yards out, but Amherst senior keeper Lennard Kovacs (Wolfersdorf, Germany) made a diving save to his left to knock the ball out of bounds. The Bantams had a breakaway in the 55th minute when they won a short goal kick, but a shot by junior Steven Mayernick (Gladwyne, Pa.) went high after Kovacs came out to apply pressure. Trinity had another great scoring opportunity in the 79th minute when freshman Graham Goldstein (Mill Valley, Calif.) fired a point-blank shot on net from only four yards away, but Kovacs got his right hand on the ball and picked up a significant save.
Schonberg made six saves for the Bantams, while Kovacs stopped four of the eight shots he faced. Amherst held a 12-1 shot advantage in the first half but only a 10-7 edge in the second frame. The Jeffs won the corner kick battle, 11-3.
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