While the season came to a close last week for the Tufts men's soccer team, the NESCAC is well-represented in the Div. III Championship Tournament, with opening round play beginning today. The NESCAC, one of the strongest Div. III conferences in the nation, not only advanced its conference tournament champion, Wesleyan, to the tournament via an automatic bid, but Williams was able to benefit from a spectacular regular season and receive an at-large bid as well.
Wesleyan, which finished its regular season at 6-5-3 (3-4-2 NESCAC), got hot at the right time, knowing that its only chance at a ticket to the Big Dance would be to run the table in the conference tournament. To do so, the Cardinals, who actually finished tied with Tufts for sixth in the conference and received the seventh and final seed in the NESCAC tournament, had to go on the road and get past three of the four top teams in the conference.
Wesleyan, which fell 2-0 to Tufts at home two weeks ago, opened conference tournament play at two-seed Bowdoin and easily vanquished the Polar Bears 4-1 to move on to a semifinal showdown on Saturday at Williams. The Ephs, who went through the regular season 13-1-0, including a perfect 9-0-0 mark in the NESCAC, outscoring opponents 38-10, were surprised by a Wesleyan goal in the seventh minute and never recovered, falling 1-0.
"We scored first," Wesleyan coach Geoff Wheeler said. "Scoring early in the game made Williams have to play from behind which is a position they weren't used to this season."
All that was left for the Cardinals was a championship date with four-seed Amherst. Nothing was easy, however, as Wesleyan gave up an early 2-0 advantage and needed late-game heroics from sophomore midfielder Ross Pemmerl for a 3-2 victory, conference title, and NCAA Tournament bid.
"I think hopefully [winning the NESCAC Tournament is] a signal to everyone at Wesleyan and other schools that the strength of our league means that any team in the league, number one, number seven, or even lower, has a chance to win the conference tournament," Wheeler said.
Like his team, it was freshman striker Matt Nevin who heated up at the right time to lead the Cardinals through the conference tournament. After scoring only twice in his rookie regular season, Nevin tallied a goal in the Bowdoin game, scored the game-winner in the colossal upset of Williams, and went on to score his team's first two goals in the conference final against Amherst. All told, the freshman provided four goals and added an assist in the tournament, making him worthy of NESCAC Player of the Week honors.
The Cardinals' improbable run earned them a first round showdown today at Muhlenberg College (13-5, 6-3) in Allentown, Pa., champions of the Centennial Conference. If Wesleyan can get past the Mules, it has the daunting task of traveling to Grantham, Pa., to face Messiah College, the number one team in Div. III, owners of an undefeated 17-0 season and Continental Conference title. With that being said, after its unlikely NESCAC Tournament run, the sky is the limit for Wesleyan.
"I think anytime you get to this point in the year any team you play is going to be a good one," said Wheeler, looking ahead to the NCAA Tournament. "I think it will be a great matchup [with Muhlenberg], and obviously the winner has a great opportunity to play against the best team in the country."
Williams, ranked seventh nationally and tied for first in the New England rankings, gets to host a regional this weekend despite its semifinal loss to Wesleyan. The Ephs take on Worcester State (15-3-1, 6-0-1), champions of the Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference, on Saturday.
If Williams can get a first round win, it will earn a second round matchup with the winner between Wheaton and Keene State, both of whom were losers to the Ephs in the regular season. The biggest roadblock between Williams and the Final Four would be a potential Elite Eight tilt with Western New England (No. 11 nationally, tied with Williams for No. 1 in New England), the only team besides Wesleyan to get the best of Williams this fall.
If Wesleyan continues its recent hot streak and Williams, one of the nation's consistently strong teams, plays up to its ability, the two NESCAC schools could meet one another in the National Semifinals. A strong run from one of both teams in the national spotlight will only help the likelihood of schools like Tufts receiving an at-large bid to the tournament in future years.
I think it's too bad [the NESCAC wasn't] able to get more teams in the tournament this year, Wheeler said. "To be honest, I think in the future we could get three and maybe even four teams in the conference into the tournament."
