Box Score LUDLOW, Mass.--Junior co-captain Colin Macdonald gave Western New England a 1-0 halftime lead on a blistering free kick, but nationally-ranked Amherst scored twice in the second half to escape with a 2-1 non-conference men's soccer victory in a neutral site game at Lusitano Stadium on Wednesday evening. The Golden Bears fall to 7-5-1 on the season while the No. 15 Lord Jeffs improve to 6-0-2.

Undaunted starting three freshmen and five sophomores in the lineup, the Golden Bears struck first on their only shot of the first half in the 11th minute when Macdonald cracked a 24-yard free kick around the wall into the upper right-corner of the net. It marked his second goal of the season as WNE would take a 1-0 lead into the intermission.

Greg Singer thought he got Amherst on the scoreboard in the 65th minute with a blast from close range, but Macdonald cleared the shot off the line. Then 2 minutes and 29 seconds later, Gabriel Wirz had a shot that was cleared away again by a Golden Bears defender.

Amherst finally broke through a tested WNE defense in the 68th minute. Following a Lord Jeffs corner kick, Singer and Wirz had back-to-back headers 7 seconds apart saved by WNE sophomore keeper Kevin Strobel going to his left, but on the third shot Christopher Martin headed home the tying goal.

Wirz scored what proved to be the game-winning goal with a shot into the left corner in the 81st minute on a cross from Andrew Orozco. Thomas Bull was credited with a rare secondary assist for a keeper when his long free kick found Orozco on the flank.

Moments before that, senior co-captain Chris Bruton had a scoring opportunity to put WNE back in the lead but his header was saved by Bull.

In the 85th minute, sophomore Scott Trautwein gave the Golden Bears one last chance to tie the score and hopefully send it into overtime, but his shot went wide.

Amherst held a huge 31-3 shots advantage (15 to 2 on goal) and took 13 of the contest's 17 corner kicks.

Strobel finished with 11 saves while Bull had one.

Western New England gets back into the Commonwealth Coast Conference circuit on Saturday (noon) when it entertains University of New England at Suprenant Field.