Box Score MEDFORD, MA – Despite an impressive back-end effort from the Eph offense, Williams College (3-5, 2-4 NESCAC) couldn't combat the eight-goal lead carved by Tufts University (7-2, 3-1 NESCAC) in the opening half and ultimately fell 12-7 in today's conference match-up. Down 19-1 at halftime, Williams rallied to outscore Tufts 2:1 in the final two periods with six successful trips to the cage—two apiece for senior Colton Growney and sophomore Steven Kiesel.
The Tufts midfielders asserted dominance early on, with Jumbo attacker Brian Ruggiero winning the game's first face-off. Capitalizing on a quick charge to the crease, Andrew Fiamengo fired into the top corner for Tufts' first goal less than a minute into play. Though Eph midfielder David Lee won the second face-off battle, the Ephs lost possession as Tufts defensemen Alex Salazar quickly charged Andy Grabowski. Salazar forced a turnover and later cleared the ball to teammate Cole Bailey, who took it to the cage just a minute later: two goals in two minutes for the Jumbos.
Lee took the next face-off as well, opening the Ephs first offensive possession in the game. A second turnover for Grabowski sparked a ten-minute battle between the teams, each scrambling to settle their offense for a solid possession. Though both teams managed two shot attempts, three turnovers for the Ephs and two for the Jumbos kept either team from offensive control.
After a turnover from Growney, the Jumbos managed to score a third time as Ben Saperstein assisted Chris Shoenhut at with 4:35 on the clock. Growney helped the Ephs to respond on the next possession, assisting freshman Jack Lauroesch to put the Ephs on the scoreboard for the first time with 2 minutes left in the period. Bailey helped Tufts quickly recover their three-goal lead on the next possession, assisting Fiamnego for his second score on the day and Williams trailed Tufts 3-1 at the close of the first.
Tufts continued to commandeer offensive control early in the second period, scoring a fifth time off a low shot by Peter Bowers five minutes into play. Despite Lee's consistent face-off victories, the Ephs struggled to maintain possession and squandered a man-up opportunity on the next possession with a second Growney turnover. Tufts scored a fifth time, as Dan Leventhal sent a quick pass across the arc to Schoenhut for his second goal on the day. The Jumbos did virtually the same thing on the following play, successfully clearing the ball after a second attempt from DeDominicis. This time it was Saperstein's turn to score, and his goal put the Jumbos at a 7-1 advantage with three minutes left in the half.
After a Tufts face-off victory, Fiamengo snagged his third goal of the day with a bounce-shot—putting the Jumbos in a pretty 8-1 position. Tufts attacker Beau Wood helped Schoenhut take a second successful trip to the cage, giving Tufts a ninth goal before the halftime break.
"I think it was just a poor start on our part," head Coach George McCormack said of the Eph opening. "They got off to a quick start at home and we had to learn to catch up speed-wise."
Opening the second half at an eight-goal disadvantage, the Eph offense was visibly determined to close the gap. Lee secured control on the face-off and Steven Kiesel made his first attempt of the game. Freshman Tanner McIvor forced a turnover from Fiamengo, foiling the Tufts clear attempt and regaining control for the Ephs. He then looked to Growney, who scored the Ephs' second goal two minutes into the half. The tempo on both ends of the field had picked up, and the Eph offense started to come to life. "[The Jumbos] play at a very fast pace and by halftime we'd figured it out," McCormack said of the turn-around.
Tufts responded with a goal of their own as Bailey assisted junior Kane Delaney for the Jumbos' first goal of the half, putting the score at 10-2. Eph freshman Peter Crane assisted DeDominicis to his first goal on the day with 10 minutes remaining in the third. Delaney returned to the cage again to answer DeDominicis' goal with a second of his own. The third period closed with the Jumbos on top at 11-3; it seemed the Ephs would be unable to hack away at the their opponents' first-half advantage.
But a dynamic fourth quarter from the Eph offense proved this notion wrong. Growney sparked the momentum with his second goal just five minutes into the period, putting the score at 11-4. Williams gained control on the next face-off with a groundball pick-up by freshman Zander Masucci. With a turnover from senior Will Stewart, a second man-up opportunity was wasted by the Ephs.
Kiesel finally scored on his fifth attempt of the game. Scooping up a groundball after freshman Connor Roddy forced a Jumbo turnover, Kiesel cut to the crease and scored to put the score at 11-5. The Ephs rode that momentum into the next possession, with Lee winning the face-off and Kiesel looking to freshman Bryson Gilbert-Bono for his first goal on the day. In just a minute, the Ephs had closed the gap to 11-6.
A penalty on Eph defender, Russell Train, gave the Jumbos a man-up opportunity and Saperstein assisted Wood to put the score at 12-6. In the Ephs' last successful possession of the game, senior Eph defender Mack Von Mehren caused Wood to drop the ball with a swift check at midfield. Junior Ben Allison was quick to scoop it up and cleared the ball to a determined Kiesel who scored once more with a shot to the top left.
Though the Ephs had outscored their opponents 6-3 in the final half (4-1 in the final period), their come-back proved too late and the game ended in a 12-7 victory for the Jumbos. McCormack acknowledged both Growney and Kiesel's role in the second-half turnaround today. "I think Colt is really coming into his own right now. He and Kiesel helped up with some critical moments throughout and especially there at the end," he explained. "They're really providing us some scoring opportunities that we really need."
David Lee won 18 of 23 face-offs for the Ephs and Williams took a total of 31 shots. "He's [Lee] definitely one of the top face-off guys in the NESCAC and today was just another example of him doing well," McCormack said of Lee's contribution to the offense. "He's one of our hardest workers and he's really good at what he does."
The Eph's Achilles heel was an inability to stabilize: 28 team turnovers on the day. "They key for us to focus on will be maintaining our momentum," said McCormack.
This game is the most recent addition a fierce seven-game winning streak for the Jumbos and a second consecutive NESCAC loss for the Ephs.
McCormack hopes to pick up where the team left-off after their impressive second-half today: "The tempo of how we played out there at the end of the game is what we'll hope to keep up for this week's game." The Ephs will take-on Union at home this Wednesday at 6pm.
