WILLIAMSTOWN, MA – Led by a goal from Brett Eisenhart, the Williams College Ephs defeated the Trinity Bantams today at Cole Field.  The only goal of the game came early in the first half.  The Ephs move to 6-2-1 on the year (4-1-1NESCAC) while the Bantams find themselves at 4-4-2 (2-3-2 NESCAC).

The Ephs controlled play from the opening minutes of the game, and the intensity paid off when they were first on the board. In the 12^th minute, Caitlyn Clark lined up to take a free kick from just outside the left side of the box. The cross took a bounce just in front of the right post, and Eisenhart was the first to the ball.  She finished to give the Ephs the 1-0 lead.  The Ephs continued to control play after the goal with eight shots in the half –including three more from Eisenhart.

The Bantams' only opportunity of the half came with nine to play when they passed around in their offensive end and found their only shot of the half, a strike from outside the box from Heather Lyhne.  First-year goalie Hannah Van Wetter was able to make the save for the Ephs to keep the score at 1-0 going into the break.

Coming out of halftime, the Bantams were the first to get a shot.  Just over five minutes into the half, the Bantams had a free kick from the right side of the field.  Jenny Ley was able to get a foot on it, but the shot went high and wide.  The Bantams' next attempt came just over eight minutes later with Van Wetter down in the box.  The Bantams fired at the net, but Kristine Nakadarecovered for the Ephs to head the ball away from net and keep the Ephs up 1-0. Van Wetter was forced to leave the game with an injury.

In addition to Nakada's stellar defensive play, the Ephs got a lot of help from starting backs Sachi Siegelman, Chelsea Davies, and Lilly Wellenbach, as well as defensive midfielder Carla Nicasio.

Said Coach Michelyne Pinard about her defense, "Trinity's a dangerous team.  They have some really great forwards, and I thought they did a great job in the second half of coming at us.  I was pleased that we worked out how to deal with that, and defensively, we're getting better every game."

The Ephs continued to have opportunities on the offensive end in the half as well. Their best opportunity came with 7:48 to play when Siegelman served a long ball into the right side of the box.  Eisenhart got a foot on the ball, but Trinity goalie Lily Pepper dove and got a fist on the ball to stop it from going in.  Both teams battled until the end of the half, but the Ephs pulled out the win.

Today's win followed a difficult loss yesterday for the Ephs to Amherst.  Said Pinard about being able to get back on the field right away, "It was mentally really great [to have a game today].  I was a little nervous physically once we had another 80-degree day and Trinity didn't have a game [yesterday].  That made me a little nervous, [but] I think it was really nice to get going again.  I think we did a really good job starting."

Pinard also commented on her team's state after yesterday's loss, "I think they were devastated.  This is a resilient group, though, and they're able to psychologically bounce back better than any team I've ever seen.  But they were devastated and I think they were mostly really upset for the seniors and wanted to be better for them."

Added Pinard about what she said to mentally prepare her team for today, "We're a young team, and what I urged them to think about is that these four years don't last forever, and we need to play with an urgency that we hadn't played with quite yet.  The other thing is that I think we're reacting a little more than we're reading the game.  We're playing a little passively and I'm encouraging the younger kids to really assert themselves out there, and I think they did that today."

The Ephs look to move up in the NESCAC standings next Saturday at Tufts.  The Ephs are third in the standing following today's match while the Jumbos are second. The game is scheduled for noon.