The Jeffs entered the York match on the back of a 4-0 first round victory over Salem State College. However, the Spartans dominated the game, outshooting the Jeffs 23-4 and earning all four corner kicks in the match. Moreover, Amherst managed only one shot on goal as opposed to the Spartans’ nine.
Amherst’s best chance to break through came in the 15th minute when first-year Frederico Sucre connected with a long throw from senior Chris Devine to head the ball just wide of the York goal. Fifteen minutes later, York broke the deadlock when Kemal Nuspahic dribbled the ball into the Amherst six-yard box, passed it to Antonio Bua, who launched it into the back of the net for his seventh goal of the season.
Just two minutes after the break, the Spartans scored again when Nuspahic, the provider in the first goal, collected the ball near the top of the penalty box, evaded several Jeff defenders before slipping the ball past Amherst goalkeeper Lennard Kovacs ’12.
According to Jeffs’ co-captain Greg Genco ’11E, the loss hit the Jeffs hard but will not deter them from moving forward next season.
“[The Spartans] capitalized on their opportunities and we didn’t,” he said. “I was proud of our guys’ effort, [but] unfortunately York was the better team on Sunday. We are obviously disappointed by the loss, but it will not discourage this program. We will regroup and work harder to ensure that we give ourselves every opportunity to succeed in the future.”
This match was the third time in three years that the Spartans have defeated Amherst in the post-season, but the Jeffs can take heart in the fact that they have made it to the NCAA Second Round for four seasons in a row. The Jeffs will lose five seniors for next year, but first-year Casey McNamara, who scored four goals in his rookie season, believes that the team has a solid core to carry on and make it further in the NCAA next season.
“We will come back very strong next year,” said McNamara. “One of our strengths this year was our team depth. We had 30 guys who could all step on the field and do their jobs. Our seniors were a huge part of the team, but we have a bunch of guys who are ready to step up and fill their roles next season. We have just under 290 days to prepare to go up to Bowdoin for the first game of next season and we’re already looking forward to that.”