Ephs Down Conn College 14-9 in Season Opener

Box Score Action photo is from a previous season.
 
New London, Conn. - The Ephs started hot in the season opener notching seven straight goals to open the scoring and they never looked back in securing their first win of the season. Seven different Ephs scored in the first quarter to pair with excellent defense led by goalie Harry Gahagan. The Ephs led by as many as nine goals in the contest as the Williams secured a strong first win of the season.
 
The Williams College Ephs (1-0 / 1-0 NESCAC) defeated the Connecticut College Camels (2-1 / 0-1 NESCAC) 14-9 in a game played at Connecticut College.
 
Conn College's first possession was stopped dead in its tracks thanks to two solid saves from Harry Gahagan. The Ephs turned defense into offense and Michael Greenberg put one in the back of the net to give Williams the1-0 lead. Another Gahagan save started a Williams possession that ended in a quick goal from Pearse Glavin. TIm Saffold kept the goals coming as he scored while diving across the front of the Conn College net. Alex Kitt followed by winning a face off and bringing the ball up himself before throwing a quick shot past the Conn College goalie. Williams would see three more goals in the opening frame from Jared Strauss, Cory Lund, and Alex Park to extend their lead to seven.
 
After a few changes of possession, the Camel's got their first goal of the afternoon thanks to Logan Bowdish late in the first quarter. Williams led 7-1 after the first quarter.
 
Connecticut College kept their momentum to start the second quarter with a goal from Patrick Linehan. Corey Lund set up Jared Strauss for his second tally of the afternoon putting the Ephs up 8-2 Cal Ewanich scored his first goal of the season shortly after to restore Williams' lead to seven goals with 8:39 remaining in the first half. An Alex Park pass to Pearse Galvin turned into a goal after a tricky move in front of net from the Eph attackman. Tim Saffold put his second into the back of the net before Conn's Gus Mazzocca broke the Eph scoring streak.
 
Both teams ended the quarter with strong defensive stands to and Williams took and 11-3 lead into halftime.
 
The second half started off quieter than the first, but Zachary Romrell broke through with a goal at the 11:15 mark in the third quarter. Patrick Linehan answered quickly after with his second of the day to pull one back for the Camels. Logan Bowdish also picked up a second goal as Conn College began to pick up momentum. Zachary Harleston and Brian Greenstein connected to stop the run of Conn College goals with 7:49 left in the third quarter.
 
The next six minutes of the quarter were filled with good defense from the Camels and the Ephs forcing many shots wide. Harry Gahagan and Conn's Will Rice both contributed strong saves to support their teams. Zachary Romrell and Jared Rainville traded goals as the quarter came to a close, Williams 14, Connecticut College 6.
 
The fourth quarter started quietly on the scoreboard with both teams battling on the field, but unable to put the ball in the back of the net. Conn College picked up four ground balls to Williams one over the first seven minutes of the period. Joey Bradley was finally able to take advantage of the hard fought possessions the Camels were earning by scoring a goal with 8:14 remaining in the game. The Camels continued scoring in the fourth quarter thanks to goals from Henry Cabot and Nate Palumboto make the final score Williams 14 and Conn 9.
 
Williams used one goalkeeper, Harry Gahagan, who made a game high sixteen saves for a .640 save percentage. Connecticut College goalies Billy Dreyer and Will Rice combined for seven saves. 
 
Williams had five players score two goals and received goal contributions from nine total players highlighted by a goal and three assists from Cory Lund. Conn College's Logan Bowdish led the way with two goals for the Camels.
 
Conn's Toby Almeida 15 faceoffs to Ephs' Alex Kitt's 11. One other player from each team took a faceoff during the game. The ground ball columns were very close with Williams edging out Conn College 29-28 led by five pickups from Brian Greenstein.
 
After over a year without a game, it has been a while since the team had the opportunity to play together, but Eph head coach George McCormack said he was, "Very happy for the seniors today. It's been a very long time since we've competed and for them to earn a victory versus a good Conn College team was very satisfying. We are a little short-handed right now player-wise so everyone is contributing either on the field or in practice which is nice." He also commented that "Harry Gahagan was really strong in cage and nine different [players] scored."
 
Williams will play next week at Hamilton College at 3:00 p.m. as they look to continue to build on a strong start to their 2021 NESCAC campaign.