Women’s Soccer Wins NESCAC Regular Season Title

The No. 10 women’s soccer team closed their regular season on a tear, ripping off seven straight wins and securing the NESCAC regular season title and home-field advantage for the conference tournament. Their season ended with a pair of 1-0 league victories, the first over Hamilton on Saturday, Oct. 18, and the second against No. 23 Trinity on Tuesday, Oct. 25. The Mammoths’ late-season success has been driven by strong play from forward Patience Kum ’25, who has won two of the last three NESCAC Player of the Week awards.

The Hamilton match began with an offensive onslaught from the Continentals, who sought to keep their postseason hopes alive and fired the first five shots of the match within the first 15 minutes. But the momentum then swung towards the Mammoths, and their breakthrough eventually came in the 34th minute. A Mammoth counter attack started with a through ball from Sarah Sullivan ’23 that found the feet of Kum. She sprinted past two defenders to collect the ball and then dropped the goalkeeper before passing the ball into an empty net. Behind the play of goalkeeper Mika Fisher ’24, who notched eight saves in the contest, the Amherst defense held firm in the second half, and Kum’s goal proved the difference in a 1-0 Mammoth win.

The team maintained that momentum in Hartford on Tuesday night against the Bantams, scoring the game’s only goal after just nine minutes. After an offsides call, Fiona Bernet ’25 roped a beautiful pass that barely clipped a Bantam defender’s head before bouncing straight to Abby Schwartz ’24. She calmly headed the ball past the Trinity goalkeeper for a 1-0 lead. From there, the Mammoths kept up their trademark pressure, winning loose balls all over the field and holding Trinity to just three shots over the course of the 90 minutes. When the final whistle blew, the Mammoths walked away with a 1-0 win and the NESCAC regular season title for the second-straight year.

The Mammoths’ quest for a NESCAC Tournament title begins on Saturday, Oct. 29, at home against Connecticut College in the quarterfinals. Kickoff is set for 12 p.m. on Hitchcock Field.