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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass -The Williams College men's lacrosse team
used a stifling defense and a big day from goal keeper Mike Gerbush
to get past visiting conference foe Bates 10-2 and earn their first
win of the season Sunday.
The lopsided victory comes after two frustrating defeats to
start the season and brings the Ephs to .500 in NESCAC play with a
record of 1-2 (1-1 NESCAC). The Bobcats now fall to 0-4 (0-2
NESCAC), despite playing some quality lacrosse in a 16-13 loss to
NESCAC power Middlebury and a 4-6 loss to #15 ranked WNEC in
that stretch.
Bates, who came in averaging seven scores a game, was swarmed
and harassed by the Williams defense throughout and limited to just
a single score per half. The defensive effort was led by Mike
Gerbush who turned away 16 of the 18 on goal shots the bobcats
would muster to insure the victory.
The Ephs broke open a 1-1 first period score with eight
consecutive scores to put Bates away.
"I am really proud of how the guys came out today. We really
played four quarters of lacrosse for the first time this year and
we got the result we wanted." Remarked Eph coach George McCormack,
"I really thought the defense was more aggressive, and Gerbush just
played an amazing game."
The Eph offense was spearheaded by David Hawley and Richard
Reuter's hat tricks and Matt Cranshaw's pair of scores in the
win.
Cranshaw got the Ephs on the scoreboard first on a feed by
Hawley 66 seconds into the game. The Bobcats would strike back with
just 1:05 left in the quarter with an extra-man goal from Tyler
Moore, but the Ephs would restore their advantage with just 9
seconds left off of Cranshaw's 2nd score. The goal
would spark an 8-0 run that carried the Ephs into a 9-1 lead until
late in the fourth quarter.
The Ephs will try to make it two straight conference victories
when they host Tufts next Saturday, March 21. That game is
scheduled to begin at 1:00 PM.
