The Ephs and Lord Jeffs renewed their oft-regaled rivalry this weekend, as the two teams — two of only three unbeaten teams in the conference — met in Williamstown to attempt to settle a generations’-old score. Since 1922 the two teams have played against each other 91 times, with the Lord Jeffs leading the nearly-century old contest 42-39-10. Despite the advantageous overall record, the past decade has not favored the Lord Jeffs, with Williams compiling a record of 7-3-0. And, until this past weekend, the most recent tie was in 1995.

Determined to succeed, the Lord Jeffs made their way to Williamstown, accompanied by a busload of fans to cheer them on to victory.

Coming in as the two highest-ranked teams in the region, both teams also featured a player tied for the NESCAC lead in scoring. Sophomore Spencer Noon is currently tied with Williams’ junior Charles Romero at 11 points through a total of six games. Noon, along with a Middlebury player, was already named the Men’s Soccer Co-Player of the Week once already this year. It was his second Player of the Week title, after previously garnering the honor for the week ending Sept. 14, 2009.

The opening moments of the game were scoreless, with the Jeffs firing shots with enthusiasm but failing to connect. Anticipation was high as shots were swept away by the Williams’ goalie, or soared above the goal post — resulting in a collective exhale by the crowd.

Around the 30th minute, the Lord Jeffs finally made it happen. Senior Thebe Tsatsimpe played the ball to James Mooney ’12 on the right side of the box. Mooney skipped the ball to senior captain Ian Rothkapf, who parlayed it into a goal.

However, the Ephs did not offer Amherst much time for complacency. With six minutes remaining in the half, Williams’ player Patrick Ebobisse equalized the score shooting into the far side of the net.

Each team fought for a winning goal, but it simply didn’t happen for either the Ephs or the Jeffs. In spite of opportunities galore for both teams in the two overtimes before the game ended, another goal failed to materialize.

“Saturday’s game was a classic case of two evenly-matched teams that are still trying to find themselves in 2010,” said head coach Justin Serpone. “At times we played well and at times we didn’t play so well. I’m really going to challenge our guys to be a bit more consistent as we head into the second half of the season. We’ve tied a few games so far and it’s time to start finding a way to win those matches.”

Continuing, Serpone said, “The frustrating part is that we have still yet to define ourselves this season with a big win. When is that big win going to come? I don’t know. We’ve shown a bit of resiliency but great teams are able to put the other team away, and we haven’t really been able to do that against top competition yet.”

The team will be looking for a big win this Wednesday in a game against Husson at 7 p.m. on Gooding Field.