Box Score WILLIAMSTOWN MA – Williams men's lacrosse won a hard fought battle in the rain against Middlebury in the rain today to clinch the 6th seed in the NESCAC playoffs today. The final score was 14-11.
At the start of the game both teams were hot. On the first possession of the game Tanner MacIvor took a shot for Williams that was saved, and then Michael Fahey got the rebound for Williams and gave it back to Tanner MacIvor who then fired in a shot. On the following play Joel Blockowitz answered the goal for Middlebury. Then Khary Dennis scored for Williams when he started to run towards the substitution box, then when his defender went, he cut back in and received a pass from Eric Kelley and scored on the play. The scoring died down for a bit as the rain was slowing both teams' offenses down and they were throwing away passes. Middlebury had a long possession because Williams was just kept throwing the ball away when they tried to clear it. Middlebury then scored the next three goals with goals from Tim Giarrusso, Joey Zelkowitz, and Kyle Soroka. Steve Kiesel was able to end the streak for the Ephs when he caught a pass on the left wing, and made a great dodge to the right and then fired in a goal at 1:47.
As the second quarter began the rain subsided but the goals kept coming. Michael Fahey scored the first of the quarter for Williams off of a drive around the back of the net at 11:58. Sean Carroll matched that goal for Amherst on a man up opportunity at 10:06. The next goal came when Riley Hoffman took the ball up the field on a fast break and scored for Williams. Michael Fahey followed up that goal for Williams by sort of taunting his defender to come meet him behind the net and then once his defender came, he ran around the crease and netted a goal at 5:19 to tie the game up. Middlebury answered that shortly after, at 5:19, to pull back ahead with a goal by Joseph Zelkowitz. Bryson Gilbert-Bono fired a bullet into the net to answer that goal at 4:48 and even up the score going into half.
On the first faceoff of the half, Riley Hoffman got the ground ball and took it down the field and scored for Williams. Joel Blockowitz scored for Middlebury to answer that on the next possession. After a long Middlebury possession, Riley Hoffman was able to force a turnover and draw a foul, which lead to Tanner MacIvor scoring a man up goal for Williams. Kyle Soroka and Jack Rautiola then scored two goals for Middlebury to take the lead back. However at 6:17 Bryson Gilbert-Bono passed to Andy Grabowski, who the defense seemed to have lost behind the net, and he was able to sneak up in front of the crease and tuck it in to even up the score going into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth quarter the Ephs really turned on the gas and pulled away. They started on a two-goal streak with goals from Steve Kiesel and Andy Grabowski. Jack Rautiola scored for Middlebury at 9:26 to end the run for Williams and reduce the lead to one. However, that was the closest Middlebury got for the remainder of the game as the Williams defense was able to completely stop the Middlebury attack. Williams also got two more goals in the game from Steve Kiesel and Michael Fahey.
The fourth quarter lead was caused largely by defense as the Panthers only scored one goal in the quarter. When asked what they were trying to do in the fourth quarter, Williams head coach George McCormack said, "defensively the guys did a really job of moving their feet and playing with their body, and offensively we really executed well." Overall, McCormack thought, "The defense really stepped up, offensively we also executed well. It was a great team effort."
Michael Fahey and Steve Kiesel lead the Ephs attack with three goals each.
Williams goalie, Dan Whittam, played 60:00 and allowed eleven goals and had fourteen saves.
The next game for each of these teams is April 25th, when the Ephs will travel to Midddlebury to play against the Panthers in the quarterfinals of the playoffs at 1:00 P.M.
This was a big win for multiple reasons: both it guaranteed Williams the six seed as opposed to the eighth seed and Williams will now be playing a team they just beat again in the first round of the playoffs. When asked about the effect this will have coach McCormack said, "I think it can't hurt us, but it's a whole new season."
