Box Score Box Score
Williamstown, MA - Williams (14-7-3/10-5-3 NESCAC) faced off against their long rival Amherst (14-7-3/12-4-2 NESCAC) to fight for last minute NESCAC standings. Williams came into their last regular season game looking to move up into second place in the standings with a win over Amherst. Williams is coming off a big 3-1 win over Hamilton while Amherst was looking to bounce back after a 3-2 loss over Middlebury.
All Amherst needed was a tie to remain in second place, but they were able to win comfortably with a 4-1 win as a late surge in the third period allowed them to tally 3 goals and take down the Ephs.
Williams did not start off strong into the game. With barely over a minute into the game, Williams was called for too many men on the ice which gave Amherst their first opportunity of the game. Amherst was able to get a few chances on the powerplay but junior goaltender Sean Dougherty stood strong in the cage.
The refs kept their whistles close to their mouthes as both teams had two powerplay opportunities in the first period. With Dougherty holding his ground and sophomore goaltender Dave Cunningham playing strong as well, both teams left the first period scoreless.
Williams was able to strike first early on in the second period. With just over one minute in, Frankie Mork was able to slip a no angle shot past Cunningham with the help of senior captain Nick Anderson and freshman forward Tyler Young.
It did not take too long for Amherst to strike back. Four minutes after the Williams goal, junior forward Mike Cashman was able to walk in right off of a faceoff in Williams end and put it past Dougherty to knot it up at one. Sophomore forward Topher Flanagan was credited with an assist on the goal with a clean win at the faceoff dot.
Williams had another chance to take the lead as Amherst as well got a too many men on the ice penalty, though sophomore Greg Johnson was called for tripping 10 seconds after. At the second intermission, both teams were still knotted at a one-to-one tie.
Both teams came out strong in the third period, sharing equal opportunites at each end.
At about halfway through the second period, Amherst was able to take their first lead of the game. Similar to the first goal, senior forward Brian safstrom was able to win the faceoff in Williams end and senior forward Ryan Edwards was abe to put it past Dougherty for the 2-1 lead.
Four minutes later, junior forward Alex Debaere was called for tripping which gave Amherst a powerplay opporunity. Senior forward Elliot Bostrom was able to give the Lord Jeffs a two goal lead as he was able to put a quick shot past Dougherty to capitlize on the powerplay. Amhesrst would end up going 1 for 5 on the powerplay.
Williams went into desperation mode with 2 minutes left and pulled Dougherty for the extra skater. The sixth skater turned out to be unsuccesful and Amherst freshman Chris Roll was able to tack in an empty netter to give Amherst the decisive 4-1 win.
Dougherty was credited with 21 saves while Cunninghamn had 29.
After the game Coach Kangas said, "Amherst was able to capitalize on more opportunities. They had two face off goals in the second and the third period that turned out to be the difference. I thought we played well in the offensive zone but they were able to capitalize on two more opportunities than us."
After remaing in the third place, the Ephs will play number six seed Colby at Lansing Chapman Arena next Saturday to start the NESCAC tournament.
