Box Score
LEWISTON, ME – For the fourth straight game the Williams men's lacrosse team scored first and even better, for the second straight game the Ephs came out on top, downing Bates 5-1 on the road.
With the win the Ephs picked up their first NESCAC win and improved to 2-4 overall and 1-3 in NESCAC. Bates is now 3-5 overall and 1-4 in NESCAC.
Williams and Bates played to a rare scoreless first quarter and a scoreless second quarter appeared to be in the forecast..
Williams netted the first three goals of the contest, but did not score the first goal until just 1:11 remained in the second quarter. Senior Sam Hargrove scored off a feed from first year Steven Kiesel. The Eph defense and first year goalie Sean Dougherty made that tally stand up, giving the Ephs a 1-0 lead at the break.
What proved to be the game-winning goal came just six seconds into the third period at 14:54 when Hargrove struck again. Sophomore David Lee was credited with the assist on the Hargrove score.
A little over six minutes later the Ephs extended their lead to three when Kiesel netted an unassisted score at 9:20 of the third quarter.
The host Bobcats tried to claw their way back into the contest with a goal from Gil Cassagne at 8:14 of the third quarter. The Cassagne goal was unassisted and was answered shortly thereafter by Hargrove's third goal of the game at 4:57, restoring the Ephs' 3-goal advantage.
The Ephs led at the end of three quarters 4-1 and the game's final tally came when the Ephs' Mike Ryan recorded an unassisted goal at 7:24 of the fourth quarter, making the final score 5-1.
Bates entered having won two of their last three including a 6-5 OT win over Wesleyan. The Ephs entered having won their first game of the year at Washington & Lee four days ago.
Sean Dougherty was a rock solid in goal for the Ephs stopping 16 Bobcats' attempts and allowing just 1 goal over the 60 minutes. "Sean is starting to play strong and confident and of late he's been getting good support from his defense," commented Eph head coach George McCormack. "Any time you can hold a team to one goal you have to be happy."
The Bobcats split their goaltending chores on the day with Adam Scharff playing the first 30 minutes and allowing one goal, while making 2 saves. Bates inserted Charles Kazarian in the goal in the second half and Kazarian had 6 saves and allowed 4 goals in his 30 minutes of action.
"It's good to see Sam Hargrove, Evan Dedominicis, and Steven Kiesel step up and give us a spark on offense," McCormack said.
On the day the Bobcats out shot the Ephs 34-27 and they won six of 10 face-offs, while the Ephs led in ground balls 24-19.
"We've made a major point of emphasis lately with our coaching staff and captains that we're going to play each quarter with consistency and focus and that has paid off for us," said McCormack. "We're making a conscious effort to maintain that focus for the whole game."
The Ephs will be right back in action tomorrow when they play Bowdoin in a NESCAC contest in Brunswick, ME that is slated to start at 1:00 PM.
"These NESCAC doubleheaders are exciting, but it is very important to get plenty of rest tonight so we can get back after it tomorrow," McCormack stated.
