AMHERST, Mass. – The Purple & White found the nylon twice in the final eight minutes of the opening half and added scores at the 49:54 and 77:22 marks, as the top-seeded Amherst College men's soccer team defeated eighth-seeded Trinity College, 4-1 in Saturday afternoon's NESCAC Quarterfinal tilt at Hitchcock Field.

With the win, Amherst improves their record to 14-1-1 overall, while Trinity concludes the 2016 season with an overall mark of 7-7-2. Top-seeded Amherst returns to action on Saturday, Nov. 5 when they host seventh-seeded Bowdoin College in a NESCAC Semifinal tilt at Hitchcock Field.

Amherst was first to strike, getting on the board with 7:18 remaining in the first half to take a 1-0 lead. Beating his defender in a footrace to net down the right sideline, Christopher Martin '17 one-touched a pass from Cameron Bean '17 around the Trinity goalkeeper and sent a shot into the netting.

Taking advantage of a corner kick less than three minutes later, Bean tallied his second goal of the season to make it a 2-0 contest in favor of the Purple & White. Positioned as a scoring threat on the far post, Bean's offensive pressure resulted in a Trinity defender misplaying the ball and deflecting it into his own goal.

Coming out strong in the second half, it took 4:54 for Amherst to extend its lead to three. Heading into the offensive end on a 4-v-3, Martin athletically cut back on a defender and dished a pin-point pass to Rohan Sood '17 just left of the box. Volleying the pass and crossing the ball to a streaking Bryce Ciambella '17 on the right side of the goal, Sood connected with Ciambella who tucked a sliding volley inside the near post.  

Sam Milbury has a solid scoring chance for Trinity at the 62:06 mark, as he powered a header towards goal from the top left of the box, but Lee Owen '18 was up to the task and dove to his left to smother the attempt.

Staying strong in goal, Domenic Quade made clutch saves for Trinity at the 66:27 and 73:37 marks to keep the score locked at 3-0, turning away nearly identical point-blank shots from 12 yards out by Aziz Khan '18 and Fikayo Ajayi '19.

Junior Kieran Bellew registered Amherst's final goal of the game in the 77th minute, as Dane Lind '20 drew a defender towards him before sending a pass to a wide open Bellew at the top center of the box. Juking around Quade who had come out of the net to cut down the angle, Bellew tapped a shot over the goal line to make it a 4-0 game.

Returning the favor five minutes later, Tobias Gimand thwarted the Purple & White's shutout bid with 8:08 remaining in the game. Earning a penalty kick after an Amherst infraction inside the box, Gimand made the most of the opportunity and drilled his shot into the bottom left corner of the goal to cut the Bantam deficit to three.

Trinity's final scoring threat of the matchup came with 4:29 on the clock, with Sam Milbury finding the ball in a scrum in front of the net following a blocked shot and sending a header towards goal, but his attempt rang off the left post as Amherst secured the 4-1 win.

GAME NOTES

• Getting the start in between the pipes, Owen (13-1-1) registered eight saves for Amherst in the winning effort, while Quade (5-5-2) made nine stops for Trinity in the loss.
• The Purple & White owned a 24-19 edge in shot differential, including a 13-9 advantage in shots on frame, and an 8-3 edge in corner kicks.
• In a physical matchup with five yellow cards between the sides, Amherst was whistled for 25 infractions, while the Bantams finished with 14 fouls.
• Martin led Amherst with five shots, including three shots on target, while Ciambella had four shots in the game.
• Sam Milbury led the Trinity offense with eight shots, while Gimand took four shots in the outing.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• With the win, Amherst improves its all-time record in NESCAC postseason play to 22-10-3 and advances to the conference semifinals for the first time since the 2014 season.