Box Score
AMHERST, Mass. – The Fighting Scots saw their season come to a close in the second round of the NCAA Tournament one day after recording the program's first ever tournament victory. No. 4 Amherst controlled the game early and proved why they are one of the last unbeaten teams in the Division III circuit. The Lord Jeffs scored twice in the first half and three times in the second half for a 5-0 victory over the visiting Scots.
With the win, the Jeffs (17-0-2) extend their unbeaten streak to 39 games while dropping Gordon (19-3) from the postseason tournament.
Nico Pascual-Leone '16 posed the first strong scoring chance of the game in the opening minutes as he broke away from Fighting Scot defenders and sent a shot from outside the 18-yard box that missed inches high of the crossbar. Two minutes later, the sophomore forward narrowly missed on another opportunity as his shot from the left side of the field hit the right post.
At the 16th minute, Fikke sent a header towards net but Gordon goalkeeper Josh Spoonhour (Greencastle, Pa.) punched the ball over the crossbar. However, the Jeffs retaliated shortly after following a corner kick from Pascual-Leone that went directly to Ben Norton '14 in front of net who headed it into the top right corner as Amherst took a 1-0 lead at the 17th minute.
Gordon created its first scoring opportunity shortly after as Andrew Vandervort (Memphis, Tenn.) maintained possession of the ball while fending off two Jeff defenders and created his own shot from outside the box, but the junior missed high of the net.
Amherst increased its lead at the 27th minute off another Pascual-Leone corner kick. With the ball bouncing around in front of the net, Fikke eventually put a foot on it and sent the ball to the back right corner past the Gordon keeper.
The Jeffs entered the break with a 2-0 lead and 15-3 shot advantage and carried that momentum into the second half. Within the first five minutes, Amherst added another tally when Fikke netted his second of the afternoon, sending it in from the middle of the box past the outstretched arms of Spoonhour.
Under a minute later, the Jeffs found the back of the net once again on a great give-and-go as Greg Singer '16 dished it back to Pascual-Leone down the left side of the field, sending it to the opposite side corner.
For the remainder of the game, Amherst controlled the tempo and maintained possession for the majority of the final minutes. The Fighting Scots had an opportunity to cut the deficit to three with under 10 minutes to play with a free kick from Kellen Kasiguran (Oakwood Village, Ohio) but Jeffs' goalkeeper Thomas Bull '16 made a diving save to protect the lead.
The Jeffs added a late goal at the 86th minute when Will Poss '16 tipped in a loose ball following a shot from Rohan Sood '17 to give Amherst the 5-0 win.
Amherst held a decisive 27-6 edge in shots and an 8-3 advantage in corner kicks. Bull made four stops in goal for the Jeffs to earn his 10th shutout of the year. Spoonhour recorded seven saves for Gordon.
Release courtesy of Amherst Sports Information
