Men’s, Women’s Soccer Sweep Bates and Colby

It was a busy and successful weekend on Hitchcock Field.

Across a slate of four games, the men’s and women’s soccer teams defeated Bates and Colby, scoring a combined 13 goals and conceding just two.

With the two wins, the men’s team improved its record to 6-0-1 this season, and the women’s team now stands at 7-0-1. Both teams remain undefeated. The strong performances saw the teams move up in the national rankings. In new polls released Tuesday, Sept. 26, the men’s team came in at number three and the women re-entered the top 10 at number nine.

The wins followed victories for both teams in the midweek, with the men beating Worcester Polytechnic Institute 1-0 and the women dispatching Connecticut College 4-3 on Tuesday, Sept. 19.

On an individual level, the weekend was highlighted by the strong play of Abby Schwartz ’25E, who scored twice against Connecticut College, knocked in the winner against Bates, and netted again against Colby. She was rewarded for her stellar weekend with NESCAC Player of the Week honors.

Women

The Mammoths got out on the front foot against Bates on Saturday, Sept. 23, firing off the first four shots of the game. They broke the deadlock relatively early on, after Brooke Ingemi ’26 broke down the right wing, cut back, and played the ball to Schwartz at the top of the 18-yard box. She collected it, cut left, and released a majestic curler into the top left corner over the diving Bobcat keeper.

Those in purple and white continued to dominate the rest of the game, putting up nine shots and winning nine corners. The Mammoths dominated possession and kept the game under control to secure the 1-0 win, the squad’s first NESCAC shutout of the season.

Amherst did not control the game in the same way against a Colby side that nearly matched the Mammoth’s shot tally (9-10) and put more shots on target (7-5). But this is a game about goals, not shots, and clinical finishing saw the Mammoths to a 3-0 victory.

The Mammoths absorbed a good deal of pressure in the first half, with Katya Besch ’25 making two stops in her first collegiate start.

In the 34th minute, though, junior defender Fiona Bernet ’25 received a throw-in at the top right corner of the 18-yard box, took two touches, and — noticing the Mules’ keeper out of position — fired a long-range shot into the top left corner to make it 1-0.

Forward Patience Kum ’25 doubled the advantage less than 10 minutes later. She met a curling corner from Precious Novidzro ’27 at the front post, where she fired it off the bounce directly above the Colby goalie, who had no time to react.

The Mammoths struck again in the 59th minute when a double-team splitting pass from Liza Katz ’25E found Bernet in space. She played a one-touch ball in between the Colby center backs for Schwartz, who put a first-time shot past the keeper to make it 3-0.

Four saves from LuLu Fickes ’26, who came on for Besch with a little under half an hour remaining, were enough to see the Mammoths to a second-straight conference shutout.

Men

The men began their Saturday contest with Bates by taking the first three shots of the game, though the Bobcats responded with two of their own and the game remained scoreless into the 27th minute when Declan Sung ’24E sent a throw-in into the box. Defender Simon Kalinauskas ’25 then sent a glancing header in toward Laurens ten Cate ’25, who put the ball in the back of the net.

The Mammoths added to their 1-0 lead 12 minutes later. From midfield, Ignacio Cubeddu ’25 spotted the run of Shawn Rapal ’24E in the crowded box and picked him out with a ball over the top of the defense. Rapal chested the ball down in traffic and fired a shot past the keeper to make it 2-0.

The Mammoths dominated the second half, allowing just a single Bobcat shot and almost scoring multiple times through Mohammed Nuhu ’27. Then the last two goals were part of a late brace, scored in the 88th minute by forward Ioannis Hadjiyiannis ’26. For the first, Cubeddu curled the ball in from a wide-left position for Hadjiyiannis, who lost his defender and slipped a header past the goalkeeper to make it 3-0. He added to his tally directly off the restart: after a lengthy dance through the defense by Fynn Hayton-Ruffner ’25, the Mammoth forward then passed to Andrew Tremante ’26. Tremante played the ball into Hadjiyiannis, who freed himself in the box and subsequently knocked a shot into the back of the net.

Sunday saw the Mammoths dominate a Colby side that put up just four shots to the Mammoths 13. The scoring began when Sung drew a penalty in the box, which Ada Okorgheye ’24E ultimately converted. Seven minutes later, a Sung throw-in found Kalinauskas who, with his back to goal, flicked the ball over the goalie and into the net. The Mammoths struck again just ten minutes later, again through Kalinauskas, after Cubeddu glided past two Mules on the left side and chipped the ball to the back post. Kalinauskas put his second header in the back of the net to make it 3-0.

The men in purple scored again shortly after the second-half restart. It was, yet again, a header: a swerving free kick from Nuhu found Hayton-Ruffner at the mouth of the goal. Colby subsequently responded with two goals of their own, in the 63rd and 70th minutes, but it was not enough to seriously threaten the Mammoths, especially after Cubeddu made it 5-2 with less than a minute left to play. A curling left-footed shot from distance proved the exclamation point on the victory, which was also the team’s Senior Day.

Before the match, the team celebrated its class of 2024 — Okorogheye, Wyatt McCarthy ’24, Max Landa ’24, Daniel Arizmendi ’24E, Ben King ’24, Daniel Arizmendi ’24E, Sung, and Rapal.

For both teams, big games loom on the horizon. The men will take on Babson on Wednesday, Sept. 27, and both sides will face archrival Williams on Saturday, Sept. 30 on Hitchcock Field. The women play at 12 p.m. before the men take the field at 2:30 p.m.