NEW LONDON, Conn. — The No. 5 seed Middlebury College men’s soccer team advanced to this weekend’s NESCAC final four by upsetting No. 4 Connecticut on Saturday, 1-0 in overtime.
The 11-5 Panthers will take on No. 3 Bowdoin at Tufts at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, after the top-seeded Jumbos meet No. 7 Hamilton at 11 a.m. The winners will meet on Sunday at noon for the NESCAC title and the league’s automatic NCAA Division III berth.
On this past Saturday Middlebury’s Brandon Reid scored the game’s only goal 4:07 into overtime. Reid took a short pass from Drew Goulart and broke in on goal, fought off a defender and shot from close range just under the crossbar and over Camel goalie A.J. Marcucci (four saves).
The best bid for either team in regulation came in the 77th minute. Camel Liam Noonan fired a shot from the top of the penalty area that was blocked. He collected the rebound, but Panther goalie Jeremy Yeager dove to deny his second bid.
Yeager made four saves for his NESCAC-best ninth shutout of the season, eight of them by 1-0 scores. The 9-3-4 Camels outshot the Panthers, 13-9, and took all seven corner kicks.