Box Score The Williams Men's Lacrosse team lost a highly competitive home battle against Middlebury 15-14 on Wednesday, April 24. The Ephs (5-8/3-7 NESCAC) knew that a big performance would be necessary to beat the Panthers (12-2/8-2 NESCAC). David Lee kicked off the game by possessing the faceoff and moving the ball down the field. Williams fired off a few missed shots before senior Colton Growney collected a rebound and put it away at 13:25. The Panthers answered back with an identical play, resulting in a 10:43 goal by Jon Broome.
The first quarter continued to be action-packed. After a ground ball pickup from Ben Allison, Williams cleared the ball down the field. Colin Foster gained possession and fed Peter Crane for a third goal. Less than a minute later, after a save by Dan Whittam, another successful clear landed the ball in Tucker Dayton's stick. He netted a third goal, putting Williams ahead at 3-1.
Panther Mike Giordano scored seconds later after the Panthers won the faceoff. The score shifted to 3-2 with 8:32 remaining. Play continued, and the possession went back to the Ephs after a forced turnover from Stephen Upton. Seconds later, teammate Colton Growney scored his second goal of the contest.
Williams followed Growney's goal with a number of attempted shots, but none were successful. The Panthers capitalized on a rebound, worked the ball down the field and snagged their third goal from a shot by Erich Pfeffer.
The remainder of the first quarter was a constant back-and-forth, but Panthers Harrison Goodkind and George Curtis worked together to even the score to 4-4 at 1:42.
The second quarter was equally competitive, beginning with Williams dominating in their offensive end. Eventually Mack von Mehren scooped up a crucial ground ball, resulting in a Williams goal from Steven Kiesel.
Middlebury responded aggressively with three consecutive goals over the following five minutes, one by Andrew Metros and two consecutive points from Mike Giordano.
Colin Foster assisted a beautiful goal to Conor Roddy with three minutes left, and shortly after scored a goal of his own. The first half closed out at 7-7.
The Ephs were used to being tied at the half, having just come out of a similar situation against Amherst on Saturday.
At 12:51 into the third quarter, Mike Giordano fired off a goal for Middlebury. The Panthers won the next faceoff and capitalized on their lead, with Darric White pushing the score to 9-7.
Ryan Hamilton helped the Ephs gain control when he forced a crucial Middlebury turnover. A series of shots were fired from each team. Tucker Dayton capitalized on another Middlebury turnover, winning a ground ball and netting an 8th Williams goal.
Andrew Metros scored to take back the two-goal lead. Two defensive penalties for the Ephs proved detrimental. Sean Carrol assisted Stew Kerr in a man-up situation with 1:52 remaining. Another Middlebury goal from Joel Blockowicz, with 7 seconds left, contributed to the 12-8 score to close out the third quarter.
The Ephs put up a very solid fight during the fourth quarter. Andrew Metros scored his third goal of the game almost immediately, but Evan Dedominicis and Conor Roddy tallied two more for the Ephs.
After four Williams attempts to score, Erich Pfeffer found the goal and raised the score 14-10 for the Panthers.
However, Steven Kiesel came alive for the Ephs when it mattered, starting with a goal at 9:03. He then went on to assist Andy Grabowski with an impressively hard shot at 6:09. After several changes of possession, Kiesel scored another goal with 2:32 remaining, assisted by Conor Roddy. Will Stewart tallied a goal assisted by Kiesel shortly after.
At 14-14, Middlebury's Andrew Metros pulled through. He scored an unassisted goal with 12 seconds remaining, sealing the victory for Middlebury. A last attempted shot from Williams' Tucker Dayton went wide due to Middlebury defensive pressure.
The end result was extremely indicative of two evenly matched teams. Dan Whittam and Nate Gaudio both tallied five saves, and Middlebury took only one more shot than did Williams, 43 to 42.
Williams defense forced 19 Middlebury turnovers, while Williams offense only gave up 15 turnovers. Middlebury won six more ground balls than did the Ephs. The teams were evenly matched in penalties, each receiving four.
This was each team's final game of the regular season. Williams narrowly missed the opportunity to advance to the NESCAC tournament. It took four tiebreakers to determine whether or not the Ephs would compete, as several conference teams had the same record.
"We've had a couple of tough one-goal losses," commented head coach George McCormack. "But I'm certainly proud of the team."
In looking to next year, McCormack is "happy with where we're heading."
