Men’s Soccer Shuts Out Colby and College of Staten Island Over the Weekend

Men’s Soccer Shuts Out Colby and College of Staten Island Over the Weekend

The Amherst men’s soccer team put together an excellent weekend with two shutout wins against conference rival Colby and the College of Staten Island.

Saturday’s match against Colby doubled as the team’s Senior Day and the Mammoths celebrated their six seniors before kickoff.

The sixsome of Luke Nguyen, Fikayo Ajayi, Andres Pascual-Leone, Christopher Lewis, Sean Fitzgerald, and Will Cohen represented the Class of 2019 and are the last remnants of the 2015 team that won the program’s first national title and finished the season with an overall record of 18-1-2 and finished the NESCAC season with an unblemished record of 9-0-1.

Though this season has had its ups and down, Saturday’s festivities seemed to spur Amherst on and resulted in a 3-0 trouncing of Colby on Hitchcock Field.

Sebastian Derby ’21 scored the first goal of the game at the 18-minute mark, his team-leading sixth tally of the season. The shot came after a missed attempt by Fitzgerald, but Derby slid it perfectly into the net.

Five minutes later, Ajayi added to the Mammoths’ lead,, netting the goal off of a spot kick.

Ajayi furthered his impressive offensive outing with a beautiful cross, which Ngyuen buried in the back of the net.

On Sunday, Oct. 14, the Mammoths returned to Hitchcock Field for another victory over the College of Staten Island, 4-0.

The nonconference win extended Amherst’s winning streak to six games, including four NESCAC games, which will be vital in determining playoff seeding.

The Mammoths built on the previous day’s victory to dominate Staten Island. In the first five minutes of the game, the team scored two goals, tallies that set the tone for the rest of the match.

At the 2:38 minute, Cohen recorded his first collegiate goal, while at the 4:38 mark, star first-year German Giammattei netted a goal after an assist 50 yards out from Ajayi.

Just before the halftime whistle, midfielder Nyguen scored his second goal of the weekend off a long throw-in from Bryce Johnson ’21.

In the twilight of the game, Dylan Steele ’21 notched another goal for Amherst, cementing the victory.
The Mammoths will travel this Friday, Oct. 19, to Wesleyan for a Little Three matchup at 7:30 p.m.