Colby women's soccer tops Bates, earns NESCAC sixth seed
WATERVILLE, Maine --- The Colby College women's soccer team ended the regular season with a 2-0 victory over rival Bates College and earned the sixth seed in the New England Small College Athletic Conference playoffs on Wednesday.
The Mules, now 8-6 overall and 4-6 in the NESCAC, will play at third-seeded Amherst College on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. in a conference quarterfinal game. Amherst took a 4-0 win over Colby in the regular season.
Annie Papadellis (Hopkinton, Mass.) scored her sixth and seventh goals of the season to power the Mules, who had a 17-11 shot advantage. She scored just 3:35 into the game on Colby's first chance with the ball over midfield. Amanda Findlay (Manchester, Maine) pushed a perfect pass to the middle and Papadellis ran on to it about the 18-yard line. With a defender on her back and Bates goalkeeper Anabel Schmelz (Monmouth Beach, N.J.) coming out, Papadellis calmly shot the ball into the left corner of the net for a 1-0 lead.
Papadellis used her speed on the first goal, but her second goal was her footwork. Maddie Tight (San Rafael, Calif.) passed the ball to Papadellis on the left side about 12 yards out. With a defender on her, Papadellis ripped a left-footed shot into the right corner of the net at 53:15. She is up to 17 points on the season.
Bates (4-9-1 overall, 1-8-1 NESCAC) had some terrific scoring chances in the second half. Just before Colby's second goal, Nicki Brill (Wesport, Conn.) of Bates hit the crossbar on a shot from about 18 yards out. Samantha Rose (Toronto, Ontario) had her shot at 57:22 get past Brook, but was cleared away by Colby defender Kat McCarrick (Wellesley, Mass.).
Brook had to make all three of her saves in the second half for her fourth shutout of the season. Schmelz stopped six shots for the Bobcats.
Colby came into the game allowing just 28 corner kicks in 13 games, but Bates had an 8-7 advantage Wednesday.
Colby 2, Bates 0
Bates............... 0 0 - 0
Colby............... 1 1 - 2
SCORING SUMMARY:
1. 3:35 COLWS12 Annie Papadellis (Amanda Findlay)
2. 53:15 COLWS12 Annie Papadellis (Maddie Tight)
Shots: Bates 11, Colby 17; Saves: Bates 6 (Anabel Schmelz 6), Colby 4 (Emily Brook 3; TEAM 1).
