AMHERST, Mass. – (Amherst College Athletic Communications) The second-seeded and 19th-ranked Amherst College men's soccer team netted three goals in the first half and held on for a 3-2 victory over No. 8 Connecticut College on Saturday afternoon at Hitchcock field to advance to the 2014 NESCAC Tournament title game.

With the win, Amherst (13-1-3) will host sixth-seeded Bowdoin College (9-6-2) at 12 p.m. at Hitchcock Field on Sunday, Nov. 9 The Polar Bears advanced to the final for the first time since 2010 following a 3-2 penalty shootout victory over fourth-seeded Middlebury College after playing to a scoreless double overtime draw.

Connecticut College got the contest off to a blazing start when Weller Hlinomaz scored the fastest opening goal in tournament history when he struck in the far right corner from 30-yards out just 10 seconds into the contest.

Amherst answered with sensational pressure and found the equalizer 9:20 later when Nico Pascual-Leone '16 sent a corner kick into the six-yard box where Andrew Orozco '17 headed into the net to set the score at 1-1.

In the 14th minute, Pascual-Leone lined up a free kick and delivered the ball into the middle where sophomore defender Cameron Bean was able to get his head on the ball and send it into the lower left corner of the net to give the Jeffs a 2-1 lead.

The Purple & White, which outshot the Camels 18-4 in the first 45 minutes, netted its third marker of the contest at the 25:35 mark when Gabriel Wirz '15 head the ball into the lower left corner of the goal following another free kick service from Pascual-Leone to lift the Amherst lead to 3-1.

In the second half, the Jeffs' defense kept Connecticut College's rally attempts at bay, as Wirz, Bean, Justin Aoyama '17, Rohan Sood '17 and Bryce Ciambella '17 provided stellar play in front of junior goalkeeper Thomas Bull.

After losing the corner kick battle, 5-0 in the first half, the Camels held a 2-0 advantage in corners in the second half, and were able to pull one back when Pat Devlin connected with Hlinomaz who finished the corner delivery with a shot into the lower left corner just inside the post to set the score at 3-2 in the 88th minute.

That score proved to be final shot of the contest as Amherst held on for a hard-fought, 3-2 victory.

Bull made one save in the winning effort for Amherst, while Connecticut College's starting goalkeeper Austin DaCunha turned away three shots. Daniel Cui made one save in the second half for the Camels.

The Jeffs have now advanced to four straight NESCAC title games.