Box Score WILLIAMSTOWN, MA – In a battle of the last two undefeated men's NCAA Division III ice hockey teams in New England, Craig Kitto's second period unassisted goal proved to be enough to lift Williams to an important out of conference 3-2 win over previously unbeaten Babson College this afternoon in Lansing Chapman Rink.
After losing possession of the puck out in front of the net, Craig Kitto immediately hunted down the Babson defender that took the puck from him, lifted his stick from behind, seized possession of the puck again, and then roofed a wrist shot into the top right corner just under the cross bar for what would pan out to be the game-winning goal for the Ephs.
With the win, Williams improves to (4-0-1, 3-0-1 NESCAC) while Babson suffers their first loss and falls to (8-1-0, 5-0 ECAC East).
The first chance of the contest took place just over three minutes into play when Williams senior forward, Matt Doyle, shoved a backhand shot low on Babson sophomore goaltender, Jamie Murray. Murray made a quick glove save to hinder the Eph scoring chance.
Only minutes later, Murray displayed confidence challenging Williams sophomore defenseman, Zander Masucci, on a slap shot from the point. Despite being screened, Murray, again, turned away the scoring chance. Murray stopped eleven of the twelve shots he faced in the period.
Not to be out-dueled, junior Eph goaltender, Sean Dougherty, also played well between the pipes for the entirety of the first period. Dougherty stopped all fourteen shots he faced during the course of the period. Dougherty stopped an array of shots during his team's first shorthanded stint that allowed his team to go into the locker room with a 1-0 lead.
The only goal of the period was not scored until the 18:17 mark on the power play. Freshman defenseman, Frankie Mork, scored low to Murray's blocker side after receiving a crafty backhand pass from fellow freshman, George Hunkele. Hunkele was awarded the lone assist on the goal.
The Ephs did not take long to extend their lead. At the 3:34 mark of the second period, Hunkele found himself on the doorstep where he was able to beat Murray on an easy tap in goal. Hunkele received a laser of a cross-ice pass from senior-captain Nick Anderson; Murray was not able to slide across the crease in time to deny Hunkele. Freshman James McNamara was also awarded an assist on the play.
The score now stood at 2-0 Ephs.
At the halfway-point of the period, the Ephs found themselves on the power play. Williams moved the puck extremely well and generated lots of opportunities. During the waning moments of the power play, Murray slid across the crease to make a great save on a Craig Kitto wrist shot.
Sean Dougherty made a great save of his own for Williams with 4:30 remaining in the period. Despite being heavily screened by bodies out front, Dougherty made a phenomenal glove save to stop the Babson scoring threat.
After Kitto's goal that proved to be the game-winner, the Ephs found themselves up by three goals. It looked like smooth sailing from this point on until Babson scored a goal of their own not even ninety seconds following Kitto's goal. With just over two minutes remaining in the period, Connor Berto scored for Babson to cut the lead to 3-1 going into the locker room for the second intermission.
Babson was relentless in their attack in the third period, outshooting the Ephs 16-4. The lone shot that was able to beat Dougherty came on the power play for Babson. Senior forward, Nik Tasiopoulos, hammered away a rebound that slid between Dougherty's legs and into the back of the net.
Babson, now only trailing by a goal controlled momentum. Babson head coach, Jamie Rice, elected to pull his goaltender with just under two minutes remaining. After peppering Dougherty with shots in the final moments of the game, the final horn sounded with the score remaining Williams 3, Babson 2.
Sean Dougherty finished the night with 39 saves on 41 shots for the Ephs while Jamie Murray finished his night with 27 saves on the 30 shots that he faced.
Williams head coach, Bill Kangas, was thrilled with the way his team played against a very good Babson opponent, "Babson is a real well-coached and disciplined team that was unbeaten for a reason coming into tonight. We took advantage of some of our chances tonight despite being outshot. Playing like this early on helps us figure out what we need to work on as we advance through our season."
Williams remains unbeaten at (4-0-1, 3-0-1 NESCAC) and will take to the ice again this Friday night, at 7 pm against NESCAC opponent Hamilton (1-3-0, 1-2-0 NESCAC) in Clinton, NY.
