WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.– Williams women’s soccer (10-0-0, 6-0-0 in the NESCAC) used gritty soccer to overcome conference opponent Trinity (3-3-2, 2-4-1) by a 4-1 margin, scoring their final three goals off second-chance opportunities in windy, cold conditions at Cole Field this afternoon.

“Something we learned yesterday [against Bates] was that we cannot take our chances for granted,” said Williams’ head coach Michelyne Pinard. “We’re working on framing the goal on every shot, and we had a willingness today to do anything to score.”

The Ephs looked solid from the opening whistle, and scored two goals in a five- minute span mid-way through the first half. Senior Brianna Wolfson put the Ephs up off a feed from Nicole Stenquist. Wolfson managed a shot in light of a charging Bantams keeper, and laced the ball to the far right side of net.

Three minutes later, Bret Eisenhart doubled the Ephs lead. Wolfson was involved in the action again, starting off the play this time. Eisenhart retrieved a pass from Wolfson, and quickly charged at net with the goalie coming out. The Williams forward shot the ball, while both herself and the keeper tripped. Eisenhart recovered quickly, capitalizing on the open net, and tapped the ball in for the 2-0 advantage.

The momentum for the Ephs was high, but Trinity shifted the nature of the game with one swift kick from Jenny Ley. Ley placed a clean ball to the far left post from the right wing to cut the Ephs lead in half at the 28:53 mark. The Ephs were forced on the defensive for more time than they are used to for the remainder of the opening period.

“Trinity is a great team,” said Pinard. “They do good things on the ball, and that made us comfortable defensively. It took us a while to work through it, because these young women want to play great soccer and when it doesn’t go there way it can get frustrating. In the end, we did a good job of pushing through it.”

Annelise Snyder finally brought the Ephs some relief in the 66th minute of play. Stenquist found herself alone in center field with options to pass to three Ephs forwards with plenty of speed. She chose Snyder who raced for the ball and got a shot off that banged the right post. The deflected ball landed directly in front of the goal. With the Bantams keeper down from attempting to save Snyder’s initial shot, a Trinity defender tried to clear the ball but instead nicked Snyder who directed the ball to net for the 3-1 score.

The Ephs final goal came with just over a minute in regulation. Bridget Gallagher played a cross from the right side to Sam Vilboa who in turn attempted a shot on goal. The ball landed straight at the goalie, but she swatted at the ball allowing for Clark to collect on the left post. Clark unleashed a shot, but the Bantams keeper made another quality save by diving for the ball. The goalie could not keep her heroics up any longer, as Clark capitalized on her first blocked shot and the fallen keeper to bring the final score to 4-1.

The Ephs will travel to Bowdoin this Saturday for a 1:30 p.m. start time.