Box Score Williamstown, MA – Williams College (13-6-3, 9-4-3 NESCAC) faced off against conference foe Hamilton College (5-13-3, 4-10-2 NESCAC) in the penultimate game of the regular season on Saturday night. Each team was looking for a victory to escape current losing streaks; the Ephs entered 0-3-1 in their past four contests, while the Continentals are in the midst of a 1-6-2 spell. Hamilton came in needing two wins this weekend to earn a playoff berth. With a pair of wins, the Ephs could possibly snag the second seed in the conference heading into the quarterfinal round.
A three goal second period was all the Ephs needed to complete a 3-1 victory at home on Saturday night. Goals from James McNamara, Craig Kitto, and Alex DeBaere propelled the home squad to its tenth conference – and 14th overall – victory.
There was plenty of back and forth action in the first period, with each team's goaltender doing well to keep the opponent off the board. Continental senior Joseph Quattrocchi and Eph junior standout Sean Dougherty stopped numerous quality scoring chances. For Williams, the best opportunity came on a Nick Anderson one timer that Quattrocchi made a sliding split save on.
Williams opened the scoring at 3:03 of the middle frame on freshman defenseman James McNamara's fourth goal of his rookie campaign. His point shot made its way through traffic - Quattrocchi appeared to have been screened on the play – to give the Ephs a 1-0 lead. Assists were given to classmate Luke Stickel and older brother Brian McNamara.
Later in the period, off a faceoff in their own end, the Ephs doubled their lead on a quick rush. Junior Craig Kitto carried the puck with speed through the neutral zone, and moved towards the right wing as he entered Continental territory. He fired a quick wrist shot against the grain that beat Quattrocchi over the far side at 10:12. The tally was Kitto's team-leading 11th goal of the season. Junior defender David Jarrett and senior captain Paul Steinig assisted on the goal.
Williams controlled the pace thereafter in the second period, and they extended their margin at the 16:47 mark off a nice passing play from its third line. Senior Matt Doyle found sophomore Matt Werner, who then dished the puck to the trailing player – junior Alex DeBaere – in the high slot. DeBaere's quick snap shot slid under Quattrocchi's left arm to give the speedy winger his fourth goal on the season.
The second period ended with no futher scoring. After two, shots were 26-24 in favor of the Ephs.
Hamilton thought it had ended Dougherty's shutout bid 1:33 into the third period. A Continental forward sent in a long wrist shot toward the Eph goal. Dougherty had trouble with it, fighting the puck off with his right shoulder. The puck popped up and trickled into the goal behind him. However, Hamilton was offside on the play, and the referee waved off the potential goal without much disagreement from the visitors' bench.
Under three minutes later, Hamilton nearly got its first goal again when first year defenseman Bradley Smelstor teed up a point shot, but it rang off the near side post.
The remainder of the period proceeded without any change to the score. Hamilton pulled Quattrocchi with just over two minutes to play in regulation. The Continentals' leading point getter Michael DiMare hit another post immediately following that. The snake bitten Continentals finally struck at 18:53 when sophomore defender Scott Vazquez took a feed at the right point from Evan Haney, and snapped a seeing eye shot over Dougherty's right shoulder. The six-on-five tally was Vazquez's first of the season.
DiMare had a chance off the ensuing faceoff five seconds later, but Dougherty made a solid sliding stop to keep the Eph lead at two.
The game would end with Williams completing its 3-1 win. Shots were even at 30-30 apiece.
Eph head coach Bill Kangas had the following comments after his team's victory: "After a couple winless weeks, we played a pretty good game and won against a desperate team. We've had a couple tough battles with them this season, and today we did a really good job in the offensive zone creating chances. Now, our focus is on tomorrow, which is obviously a big rivalry game. All of us are looking forward to it."
Williams will conclude its regular season tomorrow at 3 PM at Lansing Chapman Rink against archrival Amherst College. When the two teams met in December, the Ephs posted a 1-0 shutout victory. The winner of this game will secure the second seed in the NESCAC standings.
