Williamstown, Mass. - Senior midfielder Matt Muralles (Weston, Fla.) had two goals and an assist to lead the Williams College Ephs to a 3-1 victory over the visiting Trinity College Bantams in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) men's soccer action this afternoon.  Trinity suffers its first loss of the season and drops to 2-1-1 overall and 0-1-1 in the NESCAC, while the Ephs, ranked No 1 in New England and No. 3 nationally, moves to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the league while avenging a 2-1 loss to Trinity in last year's meeting.  Trinity will visit Westfield State on Tuesday, Sept. 16 for a night game at 7 p.m.

After Williams opened the scoring with Muralles' first goal in the 17th minute, Trinity nearly equalized when senior co-captain forward Tim Shea (Somerset, Mass.) found sophomore midfielder Griffin Bossard (Succasunna, N.J.) inside the 18-yard line, but Bossard was stopped a sliding Williams back.  Trinity continued to press on offense after halftime and were quickly rewarded for their efforts with a gritty goal in the 50th minute. Shea found freshman Tobias Gimand (Fairfield, Conn.) free in the Williams box for an arcing shot that Eph goalie Christian Alcorn punched over the crossbar. Alcorn again punched the ball on the ensuing corner kick, but lost his footing and positioning, and Trinity rookie Riley Cassidy (Huntington, N.Y.) was there to hammer a header into the back of the net for his first career tally.

Williams, which outshot Trinity, 13-5, after the Bantam goal, broke through in the 74th minute when rookie Tom Young took a rebound and passed quickly to Muralles who scored from the penalty spot.  Muralles fed J.C. Bahr-de Stefano for the third Eph goal from the right wing 3:01 later, but the pace of the game remained frenetic.  Alcorn made another leaping stop on Gimand and Trinity senior goalie Jason Katz (Middleton, Mass.) stoned Mark Sisco-Tolomeo on a breakaway. Each keeper finished with four well-earned saves.

"We played very well considering all of our players were playing at Williams' famous venue for the first time," said Trinity Head Coach Mike Pilger.  "I am so proud of our effort. We played them straight up, buy just did not get that final pass through time after time, and that happens. I love this team. We are going to be fine if we give that effort every time."