With a share of the NESCAC regular season title on the line, the women's soccer team battled archrival Williams College on Saturday morning in cold, rainy conditions. After almost two hours of scoreless play, the Jeffs and Ephs departed Hitchcock Field with a hard fought double-overtime tie, leaving both teams with identical conference records of 5-2-1 and in a four-way tie for first place with Tufts University and Bowdoin College. All four teams have one game remaining, and if any teams are still tied, the ties will be broken by head-to-head records. Having lost to both Tufts and Bowdoin, the Jeffs will probably begin the NESCAC tournament with the third or fourth seed.

Coming into the game against Williams, the Jeffs' two senior starters, Katelyn McCabe and captain Brooke Diamond knew what to expect in terms of intensity, but the added emotion of senior day and family weekend provided unexpected excitement. "Every Williams game comes down to heart. Every year it's a battle until the last minute," said McCabe. "Every player that stepped on the field left everything they had out there. It was very special for the seniors being our last home game."

"It's always hard to realize that things are coming to an end," Diamond agreed with her teammate. "It was an emotional day, but we know we're not done yet. It was less emotional because we know we're capable of doing well in the postseason," she said. "Anytime you play Williams, you can't become too emotional. It was more about us against Williams than it was about senior day."

In the first half of Saturday's game, the best scoring opportunity for Williams came in the 22nd minute as Hannah Stauffer fired a shot at Diamond, the Jeffs' goalie who successfully blocked the slippery ball. Diamond was superb all game, making five saves and commanding the Jeffs defensive unit throughout the game.

In her last home game, Diamond recorded her seventh shutout of the season and 31st of her career. "Brooke can see everything from where she is. We take her advice like we'd take advice from a coach. She's done a tremendous job keeping the team together. We have a lot of respect for her in terms of a leader and a player," said McCabe.

Defensively, McCabe had an excellent game for Amherst, stopping Williams' leading scorer, Claire Samuel countless times. Samuel was not able to take advantage of her only scoring opportunity, hitting the left post in the 65th minute. Also for the Jeffs, freshman Lyn Wojcik continued her impressive play along with fellow classmates Allison Heady '06 and Kaitlin Hill '06. The Jeffs' young defensive unit has played extremely well during their five game unbeaten streak, showing no signs of inexperience.

Although the Jeffs had no official shots on goal, they had a few solid opportunities in both the first and second halfs as well as in OT. Strikers Ashley Harmeling '05 and Lee-Jay Henry '05 provided some excitement, but were unable to convert on their opportunities. Adrienne Showler '05, Tracy Montigny '05 and Sara Elkins '04 all played very well, keeping the Ephs out of the Jeffs' half of the field.

Sophomore Leslie Curran had the Jeffs best chance to score in the first overtime, as she rocketed a shot from the left side off the cross bar and out of play.

Before the Jeffs faced off against Williams, they defeated local rival Mount Holyoke College 3-0 on Thursday. Harmeling torched Mount Holyoke for two goals, her sixth and seventh of the season. Henry added her fourth goal of the season with less than four minutes remaining and added an assist on Harmeling's first goal.

The Jeffs now look forward to their regular season finale against Trinity College on Saturday and then the NESCAC Tournament the following weekend. "First and foremost, we have to win Saturday," said Diamond. "We need to make sure we finish strong in the regular season. Right now we're focusing on Saturday, and after that hopefully we'll start over in the postseason. We're excited about the possibilities. The NESCAC is so tight, anyone can beat anyone."