Box Score WILLIAMSTOWN, MA – The Williams College men's lacrosse team (4-0) used a 4-goal second period to separate from the visiting Stevens Ducks (5-3) and posted a 12-8 victory on Farley-Lamb Field this evening.
Two of the Ephs' four goals in the second quarter came from junior attack James McFarland who ended the night with a hat trick.
Williams opened the scoring when Thomas Fowler scored off a feed from Michael Fahey at 12:10 of the first quarter.
Stevens took a 2-1 lead after their first goal by Tommy Dawson was added to by a nice conversion in close by Eric Radbourne who was assisted by Dean Peluso at 8:09.
At 6:16 Williams tied the game at two when Michael Fahey found Riley Hoffman up top wide open from 20 yards out. Hoffman, a long stick, did not hesitate as he uncorked a laser into the right side of the goal.
Brendan Monteleone put the Stevens Ducks back on top, 3-2, when he collected a pass from behind the goal from Max Bailey and beat the goalie low to the left.
The first quarter ended at three all when the Ephs' Brendan Hoffman scored off a pass from Thomas Fowler with 3:13 remaining in the quarter.
The Ephs' Michael Fahey broke the 3-3 deadlock with an unassisted tally at 8:01 in the second quarter. Stevens responded under a minute later with a goal from Brendan Monteleone who was set up by Christian Werlau
Over the final seven minutes of the quarter the Ephs netted three unanswered goals with two coming from James McFarland one from and John Hincks to take a 7-4 lead into halftime.
Stevens opened the third quarter netting two quick goals and narrowing the Eph lead to 7-6. At 13:36 Tim Leahey worked his way inside for an unassisted score in a man-up situation.
Stevens again capitalized on a man-up situation when Tommy Dawson scored off a feed from Eric Radbourne at 11:59.
The Ephs stopped the Stevens run of goals with a score from Riley Hoffman at 6:34. Off a turnover the Ephs' Rock Stewart went behind the goal where he spotted Hoffman charging towards the goal. Hoffman caught the high pass and did a 360 to elude a Stevens defender and shot low inside the right post, putting Williams was back up by two goals.
Stevens' Eric Radbourne sliced the Eph lead in half with an unassisted score at 5:14, making the score 8-7 Williams. Radbourne's goal was the third man-up goal scored by the Ducks in the contest.
The Ephs' James McFarland recorded a hat trick when he teamed up with Chris McLaughlin to score with 4:38 remaining in the quarter and Williams was now up 9-7.
Just over a minute and a half later John Hincks notched the Ephs' first man-up goal of the contest at 3:02 with Max Stukalin assisting and the Eph lead went back to three, 10-7.
Williams took a 10-7 lead into the final quarter.
The first goal of the fourth quarter was scored by the Ephs as they built their lead to 4, 11-7. Michael Fahey threw a diagonal pass over the goal from the left side to Kevin Stump on the right side of the goal and Stump ripped a shot over Carson White's left shoulder into the net.
Stump also netted the second Eph goal of the final quarter when he scored an unassisted goal at 5:56 and Williams was now up 12-7.
Stevens' Tommy Dawson worked his way through a lot traffic in front of the Eph goal and beat Williams' goalie George Peele with an quick shot to make the score 12-8 with 4:02 left in the game.
On the night the Ducks collected 33 ground balls to the Ephs' 32. Stevens turned the ball over 22 times, while the Ephs had 18 miscues.
Stevens' Carson White stopped seven Ephs shots, while the Ephs' George Peele turned aside 11 attempts by Stevens.
The Williams attack was lead by Michael Fahey with a goal and four assists. James McFarland scored three goals and Kevin Stump added two goals and an assist.
Tommy Dawson lead the Ducks' attack scoring three goals and Eric Radbourne who scored two goals and assisted on one.
"I thought Stevens, who we have not played before, gave us a heck of a game and we had to really rise to the occasion," said Eph head coach George McCormack. "At the end of the third quarter we kind of separated ourselves, but we still have a lot of work to do."
"I thought James McFarland made the most of his opportunities in limited time tonight scoring three goals," added McCormack. "We have a really big weekend coming up with Bates (Saturday) and Bowdoin (Sunday) coming here this weekend."
Stevens will next be in action on Saturday when they travel to take on Alfred University at 1:00 p.m.
Next up for the Ephs is a NESCAC two-game home skein that will find Williams hosting Bates at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday and then hosting Bowdoin on Sunday at noon.
