Volume CXXXIII, Number 8 November 2, 2001 f

Williams loss ends women's soccer season
J.P. HERNANDEZ
STAFF WRITER

The women's soccer team suffered a season-ending 2-1 loss to Williams in overtime of a NESCAC semifinal game last Saturday. Bowdoin had defeated Bates the previous weekend in its first round of tournament play by a decisive score of 3-0.

In the Bates matchup, the Bears put their first two goals on the board after only eleven minutes. First year Rachel Gordon and sophomore Michal Shapiro were responsible for those goals, while Jill Falwell '04, the team's leading scorer, put away the third and final score of the shutout.

Williams, having posted a perfect 13-0-0 regular season record, received the top seed in the NESCAC tournament. Bowdoin (10-3-1) entered the tournament as the fourth seed.

Although a comparison of records might have favored the Ephs over the Polar Bears, the game was closely contested throughout.

The Bears showed that they could play with Williams by netting the first goal of the game. That goal came from first year Christina Woodward, who scored fifteen minutes into the game off a pass from Gordon.

Williams answered with a goal seven minutes later to tie the score. The game remained knotted at 1-1 during regular play, pushing it into sudden-death overtime.

Junior Stacey Starner of Williams scored seven minutes into the overtime period, and the game was over for the Polar Bears. "We played really well," sophomore Julie Barnes said. "The [Williams] goalie had an unbelievable performance. We had no reason to be disappointed in how we played, but of course we were disappointed with the result."

The loss ended what had been a very successful year for the team. "We started out with a lot of players in new positions and not many returning players," Barnes said. "As the season progressed, we definitely came together."