Williams wraps up NESCAC season in fine fashion

The wicked witch is dead. Though Williams College has been dominating the NESCAC all season, this week's final round of competition, showed that only a few schools had enough tricks up their sleeves to topple the Ephs in a sport this week.

The Williams football team's hopes for a perfect season fell one game short as the Ephs were outscored 43-35 by arch-rival Amherst. This week in the NESCAC, the Lord Jeffs sprinted to victory on the heels their star wideout J.P. Zito , who had 179 yards receiving. Exactly 102 of his 179 yards receiving were the results of 33 and 69-yard touchdown strikes. Amherst's win helped Trinity, which also finished the year 7-1 after the Bantams defeated Wesleyan 26-10. The Lord Jeffs finished a solid 6-2 _ one game short of first place in the conference. Hamilton finished the season without a single victory, going 0-8.

An exciting week in men's soccer ended with the Williams Ephs winning the NESCAC crown where at least in this sport they could give Amherst a beating. The Ephs crushed Amherst on Sunday with a score of 3-0. Amherst squeaked out a pair of 2-1 victories over Tufts in the quarterfinals and Bowdoin in the semifinals to earn the right to play against Williams in the championship game. The victory over Bowdoin gave Amherst an at large bid to the NCAA Div. III national championship tournament. Bowdoin's Chris Kane earned NESCAC player of the week honors by scoring the game-winning goal in the team's victory over Bowdoin.

The Tufts women's soccer team has stampeded over their competition on its way to a dominant 6-2 record in the NESCAC and a 12-3 record overall. The Jumbos easily defeated nemesis Williams College 3-0 to earn the NCAA bid. After today's 4-0 victory over Nichols State, the Jumbos will travel to Wheaton College to play Keane State on Saturday. Tufts boasts the player of the week in sophomore forward Jen Baldwin, who scored three goals in the two NESCAC tournament games over the weekend against Connecticut College and Williams.

A score of 3-0 appears to be the most common in the NESCAC this week, as in volleyball action, Williams claimed the NESCAC title with a clean 3-0 sweep of Amherst. The Ephs also had a 3-0 thrashing of Trinity and a 3-2 scare against Bates before they defeated Amherst. Sophomore Robin Young paced Williams with 38 kills, 46 digs, and nine aces. Young's effort capped off an impressive season in which she recorded 400 kills and 500 digs.

Tori Scott almost single-handedly propelled Williams to the field hockey title, as she scored the overtime winner in the semifinal match vs. Middlebury, and then scored both Ephs goals in the championship game victory over Bowdoin. If Scott was the Ephs' offense, then Wendy Stone was the Ephs' defense, compiling 23 saves in the tournament, a new NESCAC championship record. Stone also tied single game records with 11 saves in each of the Ephs games with Middlebury and Bowdoin.