Box Score
LEWISTON, Maine -- Williams College took the
lead in the second quarter and maintained a slim advantage the rest
of the way, defeating the Bates College men's lacrosse team 10-7 in
a NESCAC contest Saturday at Campus Avenue Field.
The Ephs, ranked No. 8 in New England by the NEILA, move to 2-0,
while Bates, ranked 10th in New England, drops to 3-2 overall and
0-2 in NESCAC play.
As was the case in the Bobcats' loss to Middlebury a week
beforehand, a significant difference in the game seemed to be in
shooting accuracy and finishing off offensive plays. Bates outshot
Williams by a 46-32 margin, had a 42-29 edge in ground balls and
won 11 of 20 faceoffs. But the Ephs had a 21-19 advantage in shots
on goal and converted 3-of-7 extra-man opportunities, including
their first three opportunities, while Bates couldn't convert on
six man-up chances.
Matt Cranshaw led the Ephs in scoring with two goals and two
assists, while Sam Hargrove, Michael Acierno and Tim Goggins all
added two goals apiece. Williams goalkeeper Stephen Vrla made 12
saves. Corey Jacobs had a game-high eight ground balls and Andrew
D'Ambrosio caused four Bates turnovers.
Luke Charest scored a pair of goals to lead the Bobcat offense.
David Barrett, Nick Sampson, Rory Cosgrove, Torben Noto and Charlie
Clark all added goals, the first career tallies for the latter two
players.
Bates got on top first when Sampson scored his team-high 10th goal
in the game's third minute. Williams took advantage of a pushing
call against Bates, as Cranshaw fed Mike Ryan to tie it up 1-1 with
10:04 left in the first. Ryan assisted Tim Goggins at the 8:26 mark
to put the Ephs on top 2-1. But Bates tied it up at 2-2 by the end
of the quarter, as Barrett scored unassisted to tie Sampson for the
team goals lead with 10.
Another pushing call went against Bates with 12 seconds to go in
the quarter, and Williams scored its second man-up goal 10 seconds
into the second quarter and Richard Reuter assisted Michael Grover.
A third straight 30-second pushing penalty against Bates with 12:13
to go in the second was converted again by the Ephs, as Cranshaw
hit Hargrove to make it 4-2 with 11:46 left in the second.
Charest cut the lead to 4-3 before halftime when he caught a
missed wide shot by Rob Highland and quickly tucked it past Vrla
with 3:15 left in the half.
Williams opened up its biggest lead of the game over the first
five minutes of the third period, as the Ephs rallied for three
unanswered goals, two by Acierno sandwiching an unassisted tally by
Cranshaw.
Down 7-3 in the waning minutes of the third quarter, Bates went on
a run of its own, scoring three times in a 64-second span to close
it to 7-6. With 3:30 left Cosgrove wound up and connected on an
outside shot. Clark, a defender, made it 7-5 55 seconds later on a
one-man rush up the field. Bates junior Cody Newman won the ensuing
faceoff and passed off to longstickman Noto, who bounced in a shot
to make it 7-6 with 2:26 left in the third.
But Williams stemmed the Bobcats' momentum in the final minute of
the quarter. Bates defender Michael Nadler attempted a shot after a
one-man rush of his own, saved by Vrla. The Ephs put on a
counter-attack and Goggins finished it on a feed from Hargrove to
bump the lead to 8-6 with 36 seconds left.
Williams pushed the lead back to three at 9-6 after a Bates
turnover led to an unassisted goal by Hargrove. Bates missed six
straight shots over the next eight minutes plus, and the Ephs
increased the lead to 10-6 shortly after calling a timeout, with
Cranshaw scoring unassisted.
Charest closed the gap to 10-7 with 2:29 left in the game as he
snuck up from his spot behind the Williams goal and surprised Vrla
for a goal.
(Courtesy Bates Sports Information)
