WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Middlebury College men’s soccer team on Tuesday defeated host Williams, 2-0, to nail down a first-round home NESCAC playoff game.
The Panthers improved to 10-2-3, finished their regular season in NESCAC at 6-2-2, moved to 8-0-2 in their past 10 games, and earned the No. 3 seed for the NESCAC tournament.
They will get a rematch with Williams on Saturday: The Ephs (8-5-2, 4-4-2 NESCAC) earned the No. 6 seed and will face the Panthers in Middlebury in a noon quarterfinal
On this past Tuesday the Panthers held the Ephs to one shot on goal, which followed a corner kick in the seventh minute and which goalie Matt Hyer denied.
Ben Potter gave Middlebury the lead in the 13th minute, one-touching home a ball that Kyle Moffat had headed toward the goalmouth after a Fazl Shaikh serve.
Henry Wilhelm made it 2-0 with 9:14 by finishing another passing play. Shaikh sent the ball into the penalty area from the left wing to Shams Mohajerani at the right side of the net. Mohajerani slid a pass by a defender and the goalie to Wilhelm, who tapped a shot into an empty goal. Hyer recorded his fourth straight shutout and ran his streak to 434:31 without allowing a goal.
On Saturday the Panthers had used a second-half Potter penalty kick to get past visiting Bates, 1-0. The Panthers outshot the Bobcats (8-6, 3-6 NESCAC heading into Wednesday) by 15-8 and earned a 6-2 edge in corner kicks.
Potter and Raffi Barsamian had the other best chances for Middlebury, while Hyer’s only save came seconds into the second half, when he tipped a Peder Bakken shot over the crossbar. Bates goalie Robbie Montanaro made three saves.