Around the Herd: Sept. 26 to Oct. 3 in Athletics

Men’s Soccer

Men’s soccer opened their week with a shocking 2-1 loss to nearby Babson University on Wednesday, Sept. 27. The Mammoths started the midweek contest strong, scoring first by way of a 33rd-minute strike from Niall Murphy ’25. The junior midfielder worked his way to the back post to finish an inch-perfect cross from Wyatt McCarthy ’24 to give the Mammoths a 1-0 lead. Although they were able to hold that lead through halftime and most of the second half, they were unable to put away their chances and allowed the Beavers back into the game. With just over 15 minutes to go in the contest, Babson leveled, and despite the Mammoths having the majority of the opportunities after the game-tying goal, they were again unable to put the ball in the net. That ended up costing them the game, as Babson converted their only chance of the final quarter-hour, with a beautiful curling strike crossing the line with only five seconds to go in the contest. The crowd at Hitchcock Field was stunned, and the Mammoths lost their first game of the season in heartbreaking fashion.

They were able to get back in the win column, however, against rival Williams just three days later on Saturday, Sept. 30. The Mammoths again started on the front foot, outshooting the Ephs 10-2 and keeping the ball in the offensive third for the majority of the first half. With the pressure mounting, a Mammoth goal looked inevitable, and it came with 25 minutes remaining off of an Amherst free kick. From 40 yards out, Ignacio Cubbedu ’25 spotted the Ephs keeper cheating to the far post to attempt to snag a potential cross and instead surprised everyone by unleashing a laser to the near-side top corner for a 1-0 lead. But they would not stop there, as captain Ada Okorogueye ’24E controlled a McCarthy clearance with three defenders on him. Side-stepping the first and sneaking around the second, the senior slid to unleash a shot that curled around the Eph goalkeeper and into the far-post side-netting to double the lead. While Williams got a goal back in the 87th minute, it would not be enough, and the Mammoths earned a 2-1 win against their biggest rival.

The team will return to NESCAC play this weekend, taking on both Wesleyan and Bowdoin on the road on Saturday, Oct. 7, and Sunday, Oct. 8, respectively. Kickoff against the Cardinals is set for 2:30 p.m.

Women’s Soccer

The women’s soccer team’s undefeated start to the season was cut short on Saturday, Sept. 30 as they fell 1-0 to rival Williams in a thriller on Gooding Field. The physical tone for the game was set early, as Patience Kum ’25 expertly slid into a tackle, sending the Eph player to the ground and the Amherst crowd into a frenzy. The Mammoths carried that momentum through the first half, outshooting the Ephs 6-2 and having the better of the possession and the chances. This flurry was highlighted by two one-on-one opportunities, by Kum and Liza Katz ’25E that the Williams goaltender was able to miraculously keep out of the net. However, the first half ended with neither team finding the back of the net, and Williams came out of the break with renewed energy. After winning a free kick 30 yards from the net, the Ephs found their breakthrough. Mammoth goalie Katya Besch ’25 made the initial save on a low curling effort to the near post, and a second on the rebound, but a scramble inside the box ended with the ball in the Amherst net and the home side down 1-0. Despite again controlling possession and a flurry of offensive opportunities in the last 10 minutes — including tantalizing efforts from Abby Schwartz ’25E and Brooke Ingemi ’26 — the Mammoths ran out of time. The Ephs defeated Amherst for the second consecutive year, 1-0.

The Mammoths will look to bounce back from a tough loss on Saturday, Oct. 7, at Little Three foe Wesleyan at 12 p.m. before taking on Bowdoin in Maine the following day.

Field Hockey

The field hockey team returned to the win column on Wednesday, Sept. 27, beating Connecticut College 3-0 on the road in New London. After a first quarter that the Mammoths dominated, they got on the board late in the second. On a perfectly executed penalty corner, the Mammoths swung the ball around the circle, where Kat Mason ’25 ripped a low shot from the right side that Justine Ligouri ’26 was able to direct past the Camel goalie to make it 1-0. They doubled the lead one quarter later — a Sam Maynard ’25 shot was initially saved, but the rebound slid to Kate Smith ’25, who was waiting at the back post for an easy tap-in. The third Mammoth goal was scored with just under eight minutes to go in the game when Muffie Mazambani ’24 backhanded a loose ball into the back of the cage to make it 3-0. The score held for the remainder of the game, and the Mammoths returned to Amherst with a NESCAC win.

However, they could not make it two in a row on Saturday against the Ephs, falling 3-0. The Mammoths never found their footing, getting outshot 14-6 during the contest and losing the penalty corner battle 9-4. The Ephs took control early with a goal late in the first quarter off of a penalty corner, and never looked back, netting again in the third to make it 2-0, and sealing their win with an insurance tally midway through the final quarter.

The Mammoths will look to get back on track on the road against Little Three opponent Wesleyan on Saturday, Oct. 7, at 11 a.m. before taking on Bowdoin in Brunswick, Maine, on Sunday.

Volleyball

The volleyball team bounced back from a loss to rival Williams with two wins on the road this weekend, beating both Bowdoin and Connecticut College in 3-0 sweeps.

In their Friday, Sept. 29, contest against the Polar Bears, the Mammoths got off to a strong start, with back-to-back kills from Alexandra Trofort ’26 and Kinsey Cronin ’25 giving Amherst a 6-3 lead, all the margin they needed to take the first set 25-22. The second set was much of the same, with two straight Cronin kills and a Charlotte Rasmussen ’26 ace building an 8-4 cushion. Again, the Mammoths held onto their lead to take the set. In the third and final set of the night, Amherst led with its serve: Anaya Thomas ’25 had the hot hand from behind the baseline, and with a little help from four Rasmussen kills, the Mammoths took a 7-1 lead and never looked back, icing the game with a 25-20 win. The game was marked by a standout performance from Rasmussen, who notched a career-high 20 kills on the night.

On Saturday, the Mammoths traveled to Connecticut, where they again recorded a three-set sweep of a NESCAC opponent. This time, the Camels fell victim to a dominant showing from the away team, who won every set by seven points or more. The game started in back-and-forth fashion, with the Camels leading 16-14 before a Carly Cooper ’24 kill started a 9-1 run to close out the first set. The second set was much of the same, with the teams battling to a 6-6 tie before the Mammoths again went on a scoring run, winning 14 of the next 18 points. While the Camels went on a short run of their own in an attempt to come back, a kill from Brielle Renwick ’27 ended the set. This seemed to demoralize the Camels, as Amherst raced out to a nine-point lead to open the third set. While the home side gritted their way back into the set, it was too little too late as the Mammoths halted the run at 20-16 and put the Camels away by winning five of the next six points to take the match 3-0 (25-18, 25-15, 25-17). Thomas notched seven kills to lead the team on the day, Cooper tallied six kills and 25 assists.

The Mammoths now hold a 5-6 overall record, with a 2-3 record in NESCAC play. They will look to build on this momentum during a long home stretch, with the first of those games coming on Friday, Oct. 6, at 7 p.m. against Trinity.

Football

The football team was unable to capitalize on their momentum after last week’s win in their home opener against Hamilton, falling 49-0 to defending NESCAC champion Trinity on Saturday, Sept. 30, on the road in Hartford, Connecticut. The usually -stout Amherst defense had trouble keeping the Bantams out of the endzone all day; the damage started early when the Trinity offense was able to capitalize on a five-play, 75-yard opening drive to take the lead after only two minutes had elapsed. The offense couldn’t get anything going after going down early, with their first two drives resulting in only two first downs, a punt, and a fumble deep in their own territory. That fumble, lost on their own 16-yard line, led to the second Bantam touchdown of the day just seven minutes into the first quarter. With the Mammoths in a 14-0 hole, it was all too easy for Trinity to keep putting the ball into the endzone: they scored their third touchdown of the game on a 79-yard drive just before the end of the first quarter. The Mammoths were able to respond with their first sustained drive of the game — an 11-play, 48-yard effort — but that momentum would not hold, as that drive ended on the Trinity 31-yard line after a turnover on downs. The rest of the first half was not kind to the Mammoths, and the score stood at 42-0 as the teams headed to the locker rooms. At that point, the Bantams seemed to take their foot off the gas on offense, scoring only one touchdown in the second half on the way to a 49-0 victory. What really hurt the Mammoths’ offense was turnovers: they turned the ball over five times while the Bantams had none.

The Mammoths will look to return to .500 this weekend on the road against Bates in Lewiston, Maine. The Mammoths will kick off against the Bobcats at 1 p.m.

Men’s Tennis

The men’s tennis team continued their fall slate this past weekend at the ITA Regional Championships held in Brunswick, Maine. With the team exclusively playing doubles, four pairs of Mammoths took the court in the three-day tournament: Sujit Chepuri ’25 and Spencer Leung ’27, Kobe Ellenbogen ’25 and Andreas Sillaste ’27, Rex Harrison ’27 and Ethan Ohm ’27, and George Chiademenos ’26 and Micah Ellis ’24. All four pairs made it through the first round to the Round of 32, with the pairs of Chepuri/Leung and Harrison/Ohm winning 8-2, and Chiademenos/Ellis coming out of their match with an 8-3 win; Ellenbogen/Sillaste earned the fourth seed and a first-round bye. While Chepuri and Leung fell in their next match in a tiebreak (8-7, 7-4) and Chiademenos and Ellis lost by an 8-3 scoreline, both other pairs moved to the Round of 16: the first-year pairing dispatched a Wesleyan pair 8-6, while the Mammoths’ fourth-seeded pair won in convincing fashion, 8-3. It was here that the upstart pairing of Harrison and Ohm fell, losing 8-4 to a pair from Middlebury, but again Ellenbogen and Sillaste found a way to win, moving to the Quarterfinals with an 8-4 victory. However, their streak came to an end shortly after, with the final Mammoth pair losing their Quarterfinal match to the No. 5 seed 8-2.

The Mammoths will return to action on Saturday, Oct. 14, at home, taking on both Nichols College and NESCAC foe Connecticut College in their last matches of the fall season.

Women’s Golf

The women’s golf team traveled to Nicholasville, Kentucky, this weekend to participate in the NCAA Fall Preview, a precursor to next spring’s NCAA Championships, and returned to Amherst with a stunning sixth-place finish.

After the team recorded a first-round total of 306 on Sunday, Jessica Huang ’25, led the team up the standings on day two. She shot a 2-under-70 in Monday’s second round to record a two-day score of 143 and a second-place individual finish. Not to be outdone, the rest of the team came to play as well: Kaia Wu ’26 put together a stellar 1-over-73 round for a two-day total of 155 (35th place overall), Annabelle Chen ’27 and Abby Kim ’27 both recorded rounds of 77 (5-over par) with two-day totals of 148 and tying for 32nd place, and Lindsey Huang ’26 notched a 7-over-79 to round out the Mammoths’ scorecard. When this was said and done, the Mammoths had shot a 9-over-297 team total on day two, improving nine strokes from their day one score and putting them in sixth place as a team.

The Mammoths will finish their fall slate this weekend with the NESCAC Qualifier this weekend at the Martindale Country Club in Auburn, Maine, on Oct. 7-8.