Box Score
Williamstown, MA --- The Williams Ephs (1-1, 1-1) took down the Bates Bobcats (2-3, 1-1) 6-5 to score their first victory of the season in their home-opener. Colin Foster '14 tallied the first two goals of his Williams career as the Ephs held off a late charge by the Bobcats.
After failing to score in the first half last week, the Ephs offense scored five goals in the first thirty minutes today.
Bates struck first as Mark Murphy found Wylie Leabo to take a 1-0 lead. Williams responded quickly and effectively. Will Stewart '13 scored his first goal of the season with 9:57 left in the first quarter. Just 16 seconds later, Steve Upton '14 found Tommy Murray '11 to give the Ephs the lead.
The first penalty of the day, a slashing call on Bates' Thomas Livingston, gave Williams an opportunity to extend the margin. The Ephs extra-man offense capitalized as Colin Foster '14 netted the first goal of his career.
The Bobcats managed to even the score after goals by Rory Cosgrove and Will Gilkeson, but the Ephs responded with another offensive flurry. Tommy Murray '11 scored a man-up goal to retake the lead for the Ephs and Foster tallied his second of the day to widen the lead to 5-3 heading into halftime.
In the third quarter, the Eph defense continued its strong play. Led by David Doggett '12 and goalie Evan Cohen '12, Williams did not allow any goals from the Bobcats. Tim Goggins '12 added his fourth goal of the season on an assist from Colton Growney '13 as the Williams extra-man offense again took advantage of a Bates penalty.
The Ephs had a 6-3 lead at the start of the fourth quarter, but the Bobcats did not go down easily. Will Gilkeson, the leader scorer for the Bobcats on the day, netted his second goal and, with 8:45 left in the game, Luke Charest closed the deficit to one.
Corey Jacobs '11 continued to prove his worth on face-offs, winning all three in the final quarter. Jacobs and the Eph defense refused to let this game slip away. The Bobcats took 11 shots in the fourth quarter and goalie Evan Cohen '12 saved 7 of them while allowing only two goals.
On the day, Cohen had 14 saves on 25 shots and allowed 5 goals. Bates' Adam Scharff had 8 saves on 22 shots and allowed 6 goals.
The difference in the game was penalties. The Williams extra-man offense tallied three scores on seven opportunities while the Bobcats extra-man offense was stymied by the Eph defense on all three occasions.
Coach George McCormack described the victory as hard-fought. "The wins are really tough in this conference." Coach McCormack was again impressed with performance of young players, such as Foster, who stepped up in the absence of several injured upperclassmen.
The victory was the first of the season for Williams while the Bobcats slipped to 2-3 on the season and 0-2 in NESCAC play. The Ephs look to continue their momentum Wednesday against Skidmore at 4:30 in Williamstown.
