The Jeffs dominated play for almost the entire game Thursday, taking the early lead only nine minutes into play when forward Franklin Perry '04 took a feed off a nicely slotted corner kick by senior Dave Michner and rocketed the ball off his head into the back of the net. The Jeffs had a few more opportunities on net before freshman midfielder Christian Alexander '06 tacked another one on the Amherst board. Alexander took a clever pass from forward Joe Gannon '06 at the end of the first half of play, giving the Jeffs a 2-0 lead at halftime.
Amherst kept Keene State on its heels as the second half began. Only four minutes in, quad-captain Carlo Valdesolo '03 gave a nice pass to quad-captain midfielder Chris Kane '03, who fired yet another shot past Keene State goalkeeper DJ Nordmark. Midfielder Adrien de Bontin '06 finished up the scoring later in the half, carving a shot inside the left post for his first career goal, making the final score 4-0. Freshman goalkeeper Greg Lockwood made some stellar saves in the net for Amherst, finishing with six saves total.
"Our success can be directly attributed to our depth on the bench," said Valdesolo. "When you have 18 to 20 guys who can rotate throughout the field without losing quality of play, you're in a good position to win games. It creates a great team dynamic where we all have to rely on one another rather than on the exceptional play of a few."
The Jeffs' impressive play continued into their next game against conference rival Bates College on Saturday. Once again the Jeffs controlled play and took advantage of their multiple scoring opportunities. Amherst's first chance came on a shot fired by Michner that beat Bobcat goalkeeper James Kenly, but bounced off the inside of the right post and away from the net. Amherst eventually scored 35 minutes in, however, when midfielder Vivian Johnson '04 lofted a pass to Gannon in the box. Gannon chipped it into the back of the net for his first goal of the season and his college career. Gannon followed up his goal with an impressive front flip, his scoring trademark from high school
Alexander notched the other two goals of the game. The first came at the end of the first half on a free kick from midfielder Jeff Cantwell '04. Alexander then added his second tally 59 minutes in after a long pass from defender Roger Boulay '03, making the final score 3-0. Alexander leads the team in scoring with three goals in the first three games.
"Bates and Keene were both good teams, but we played well and were much more organized defensively and capitalized on our opportunities," said junior midfielder Mike York '04. "We had a lot of contributions from the freshmen, especially Gannon and Alexander."