Box Score Amherst, MA – The Amherst men's lacrosse team (11-3/7-2 NESCAC) responded to a Williams (8-6/4-5 NESCAC) third quarter goal that narrowed Amherst's lead to one goal, 6-5, with four unanswered goals on the way to posting an 11-8 win on Pratt Field.
The Ephs' Conor Roddy opened the second half scoring with an unassisted goal at 13:43 of the third quarter, moving the Ephs to within one goal of Amherst, 6-5. However, Amherst responded to the Roddy goal with two goals in 1:40 and four unanswered goals to establish a 10-5 lead after three quarters.
At 13:09 Charlie Gill scored the first of the four straight Amherst goals with Quinn Maroney assisting. Gill then assisted Michael Litner on a goal at 12:03 that gave Amherst its first 3-goal lead of the day, 8-5.
At 4:43 in the third quarter Amherst's Rob Burke was called for slashing, giving the Ephs a man-up opportunity for one minute. The Ephs' lone shot in the man-up opportunity was saved by Amherst goalie Thomas Gilligan and moments after returning to full strength Amherst upped their lead to four, 9-5, when Quinn Maroney assisted on an Evan Wolfe tally.
With just 52 seconds left in the third quarter Andrew Ford netted an unassisted goal extending the Amherst lead to five, 10-5.
Amherst out shot the Ephs 13-4 in the pivotal third quarter and the Ephs hurt themselves with nine turnovers in the quarter.
Williams netted the first goal of the final quarter at 9:02 when Bryson Gilbert-Bono fired over the right shoulder of Gilligan from eight yards out on Gilligan's right. The Ephs now trailed by four, 10-6.
Winning the next faceoff the Ephs netted a second straight goal when Michael Fahey scored an unassisted goal at 8:04, making the score 10-7, Amherst.
In the man-up situation off a delay of game infraction called on Amherst, the Ephs' Duncan Cummings capitalized at 3:09 beating Gilligan going right to left across the face of the goal and scoring on a high shot, slicing the Eph deficit to two, 10-8.
With just under three minutes left Amherst lost possession for having too many men on the field and the Ephs took over, but a costly turnover with two minutes left gave the ball back to Amherst who successfully cleared the ball.
Amherst eschewed the delay on offense and Quinn Maroney set up Kane Haffey for a shot in close on McCarthy that he converted at 1:31 to make the score 11-8 in Amherst's favor.
Amherst won the faceoff after the Haffey goal and went into a deliberate offensive mode and maintained possession for the final 1:31 to seal the win.
Williams never led in the contest, but did tie the game at two all and three all.
Amherst scored the first two goals of the game only to have Williams respond with two in a row to tie the game at two. Amherst took a 3-2 lead at the end of the quarter when Killian scored off a feed from Connor Crump with just 11 seconds left in the period.
The Ephs tied the contest at three all when Peter Crane netted an unassisted goal at 11:53 in the second quarter.
Amherst re-gained the lead at 4-3 when Andrew Ford scored unassisted at 7:09. On the Ford goal the Ephs' Bryson Gilbert Bono was sent off for slashing and Amherst had a man-up opportunity for 60 seconds. The Ephs killed of the Gilbert-Bono goal, but Amherst did score at 5:09 in a full strength situation when Kane Haffey scored from 10 yards out on the right side of Eph goalie Miles McCarthy.
Amherst went up 6-3 when Quinn Maroney came from behind the goal on McCarthy's left and then turned and fired into the lower right corner of the net at 2:58.
Michael Fahey got a goal back for the Ephs when he was setup by Thomas Fowler as he came around the goal and he back-handed a shovel shot past Amherst goalie Thomas Gilligan at 2:11.
The first half ended with Amherst on top 6-4. Both teams fired 14 shots on goal and Amherst's Gilligan made 10 saves, while the Ephs McCarthy stopped eight Amherst shots.
Both teams turned the ball over eight times in the first 30 minutes. The Ephs held a slight advantage in ground balls, collecting 22 to Amherst's 17 and Williams won seven of the 12 first half faceoffs.
On the day Amherst goalie Thomas Gilligan played all 60 minutes and he saved 15 of the 23 Eph shots, allowing eight goals. Eph goalie Miles McCarthy in 60 minutes, stopped 23 shots, allowing 11 goals. "I'd like to recognize Miles [McCarthy] for his play today," said Eph head coach George McCormack. "I thought he had his best game of the year today."
Amherst picked up 40 ground balls to the Ephs 23 and Williams turned the ball over 20 times to 16 miscues for Amherst.
Amherst was led in scoring by Kane Haffey, Charlie Gill and Andrew Ford, each netting two goals. Quinn Maroney posted a team-high three assists for Amherst.
The Ephs were led on offense by Conor Roddy and Michael Fahey who each tallied two goals. Thomas Fowler's two assists was tops for Williams.
The Ephs will close out the regular season with a road contest at Middlebury on April 27 at 4:30 p.m.
