Men's soccer falls to top seed in NESCAC playoffs

AMHERST, Mass. – The Colby College men's soccer team finished the season at 7-7-1 after falling to fifth-ranked Amherst College by a 4-0 score in NESCAC quarterfinal round action at Hitchcock Field.
 
While the Mules end their year, Amherst (12-1-2) will host the NESCAC semifinal round and championship game next weekend.
 
Two goals and an assist from Spencer Noon led the Lord Jeffs on Saturday. Noon had also scored twice in the regular season meeting between the teams.
 
Amherst got on the board 11 minutes into the game when Milton Rico put home a rebound after a pair of Ben Joslin saves, with Noon picking up the assist after his attempt was denied. At 20:40 Noon pushed his team’s lead to 2-0 when he made a far-post run on a cross from Chris Lerner, putting a header past Joslin after Lerner did a nice job of dribbling himself free along the left sideline.

Rico picked up the assist on Amherst’s third goal when his corner kick was finished off by Alejandro Sucre with 28:03 to go in the second half. Noon then capped off the scoring at 73:21 when he received a pass from Lerner and put a shot on net. Joslin got his hands on the ball but could not hang on due to the wet field conditions, as his diving attempt back toward his goal came up short and Noon’s shot trickled over the line.

Colby had a pair of good scoring chances in the waning moments of regulation but could not get on the board, as Eric Barthold pushed a shot wide left and Nate Tolman lofted an attempt just over the crossbar.

Amherst held a 20-5 advantage in shots and an 11-1 edge in corner kicks. Lennard Kovacs posted the shutout for the Jeffs despite not having to make a save, while Joslin stopped five shots for the Mules.