Box Score WILLIAMSTOWN, MA – The Williams men's lacrosse team opened up a 5-2 lead at the end of the first quarter and never looked back, downing Bowdoin 16-5 in the first game of the season for both teams.
Williams (1-0/NESCAC 1-0) won the first face-off and controlled play for the first two and a half minutes. The first goal of the game occurred on a rip to the top right by the Ephs' Steven Kiesel at 12:39.
Bowdoin (0-1/NESCAC 0-1) matched the Kiesel tally a little over a minute later with a goal by Peter Reuter, assisted by Matthew Crowell at 11:18. Then Williams went on a three-goal run getting scores from Tanner Maclvor, Michael Fahey, and Steven Kiesel. Halfway through the first quarter Bowdoin ended the Williams run with a goal by Brandon Lee at 6:54, narrowing the gap to two goals. From that point forward Bowdoin was never within two goals of Williams.
The first quarter ended with Williams ahead 5-2 and the Ephs took a 6-3 at the half.
When Bowdoin's Matthew Crowell scored at 11:24 of the third period to narrow the Eph lead to three, 7-4, the Ephs then rattled off nine straight goals through the remainder of the third quarter and into the fourth quarter to go ahead 16-4. Junior Conor Roddy netted three of the nine goals in the series of unanswered goals.
Peter Reuter had three goals in leading Bowdoin.
Bowdoin goalie Connor Laughlin played 57:10 minutes and had nine saves and allowed sixteen goals. Peter Mumford played 2:50 and was not called on to make a save.
Williams' goalie Dan Whittam played 55:39 and had five saves and allowed four goals. Miles McCarthy played 4:21 and had two saves and allowed one goal.
"I thought once we got a two-goal lead we settled into our game and played with composure," said Eph head coach George McCormack. "Early on I thought our goalie Dan Whittam had trouble seeing the ball but it didn't take him long to get into his game and he ended up making many outstanding saves."
Brian Bissell, 18' had a strong first quarter facing off, winning six out of eight face-offs to give Williams a considerable advantage of possession. "Bissell's play was key because he won a lot of early face-offs to start the attack," said McCormack when asked about key players in the win.
The team's continuity from last year proved useful as Steve Kiesel, Andy Grabowski, and Conor Roddy each finished the game with a hat-trick. The ball was flowing seamlessly all game for the Ephs and Williams was successful on sixteen out of seventeen clears during the game. The Ephs registiered assists on nine of their 16 goals.
The benefit of team continuity was apparent on defense too. McCormack noted that, "Ryan Hamilton was a strong presence on defense with his physical play." The defense forced twenty turnovers throughout the game and locked down the Bowdoin offense. Goalie Dan Whittam did a wonderful job communicating to the defense. The Ephs' man down unit was only scored on during one out of six penalties.
The next game for the Ephs is March 4th when they host Skidmore at 6:00 PM.
