WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The third-seeded Middlebury College women’s soccer team fell to No. 2 Amherst, 2-0, in a NESCAC semifinal played at Williams College on Saturday, but the 13-4 Panthers still earned an NCAA Division III tournament bid, the program’s ninth. 
The Panthers will travel to Stevens Institute in New Jersey for an NCAA Regional this weekend. The Panthers will take on NEWMAC champion MIT (17-5-1) in one regional semifinal on Saturday, while Stevens (18-1) will meet Colby-Sawyer (10-8) in the other matchup. The winners will meet in the regional finals on Sunday.
On this past Saturday, Amherst (15-2-1 after defeating Trinity for the league title on Sunday), scored twice in the second half to defeat Middlebury.
Scoring chances were hard to come by in the opening half. Middlebury’s best opportunity came in the 37th minute, when Sabrina Glaser worked her way inside the penalty area on the left side and crossed toward the far post. An open Rebecca Palacios met the cross, but her header went just over the crossbar.
In the second half, Middlebury’s Adrianna Gildner ripped a left-footed shot from just inside the penalty area that sailed wide left. Just seconds later, Panther keeper Kate Reinmuth came out to challenge a charging Hannah Guzzi, forcing the Amherst player to put her shot wide of the goal.
The Purple & White got onto the scoreboard at 51:47. Rubii Tamen dribbled down the right and sent in a cross that Reinmuth came off her line to corral. But the ball squirted away from Reinmuth and a defender to Guzzi for the tap-in.
Amherst made it 2-0 at 61:44, when Tamen outmaneuvered the last Middlebury defender and slotted the ball past a charging Reinmuth from eight yards out at 61:44.
Seconds apart in the 71st minute, Panthers Emma Shumway and Katherine Hobbs each found space in the middle of the Amherst box and shot from 15 yards away, but Amherst goalkeeper Chelsea Cutler made the saves.
Middlebury outshot Amherst, 17-12. Reinmuth finished with three saves, while Cutler made 10.