No. 10 Amherst Downs Men's Soccer, 4-0

Chris Kendrick (@CKendrick86)

CHICOPEE, Mass. – The Elms College men's soccer team lost to visiting Amherst College, the tenth-ranked team in the nation, 4-0, in non-conference action at Leary Field Sunday afternoon. The Blazers drop to 2-4 on the season, while Amherst improves to 5-0.

In the 17^th minute of play, the Jeffs capitalized on a corner kick opportunity as senior Nico Pascual-Leone (Wayland, Mass.) gathered a loose ball following a corner and tucked a shot inside the right post to stake Amherst to a 1-0 lead. At the 19:58 mark the Blazers suffered a stroke of bad luck as a corner kick was misplayed by the Elms defense, leading to an own goal and a 2-0 advantage for the Jeffs.

The Blazers nearly escaped the first half down 2-0, but a goal from Amherst sophomore Aziz Khan (Gambia) with one second left in the half gave the Jeffs a 3-0 lead heading into the break. The final strike from Amherst came in the 55^th minute as junior Christopher Martin (Philadelphia, Pa.) raced after a ball from senior Greg Singer (San Jose, Calif.) and chipped a shot over the head of Elms senior goalie Nicholson Pennant (St. Andrew, Jamaica), sending the Jeffs to the 4-0 win.

Amherst edged Elms in the shot column, 19-10, during the contest. Pennant matched his season-high with 11 saves, while Jeffs senior Thomas Bull (Montgomery, N.J.) stopped five shots and registered his fifth shutout of the season.

"I thought both team played pretty well, and both team played pretty hard today," said Elms Head Coach Ben Masse. "The difference today was on set pieces. In the first half, you had the two corner kick goals, and one off a throw in, and the one goal in the second half was off our set piece, which we didn't take advantage of, and [Amherst] countered and scored. There were points in the game where we looked really good, we played well, possessed the ball, and gave up one goal in the second half. We had chances, and there were times where we made [Amherst] panic, which is what we want. It's great experience for us to be able to play a top ten team in the country. We have a another tough match against Connecticut College, they are ranked in the top 50, and later on we have Bowdoin, who's another top ten team in the country. These games will give us the experience we need heading into conference play."

The Blazers will be back on the pitch Wednesday afternoon against Connecticut College. Kickoff is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. Amherst travels to Williams College for a NESCAC conference game Saturday at 1:00 p.m.

ELMS SOCCER