Ephs Win 6-1 Against Cardinals Scoring 6 Consecutive Goals

Box Score Middletown, CT- Coming off a loss against the Trinity Bantams last night, the Williams College Ephs (6-4-0, NESCAC 6-2-0) put forth a strong team effort today, exploding with 6 consecutive goals, one in the first period, two in the second period and three in the third period en route to a 6-1 win over the Wesleyan Cardinals (5-4-1, NESCAC 4-1-1).
 
The Cardinals were first to draw blood when at 2:17 pf the first period Jeremy Abraham single handedly wrapped around from the back boards to sneak it past Eph goalie Evan Ruschil. However, the Ephs were quick to respond with an equalizer at 7:40. Mac Carso, scored and he was assisted by Niko Karamanis. Carso received a centering pass and shot iit past Cardinal netminder Marc Smith.
 
The Cardinals had the upper hand throughout the rest of the period when the Ephs had three consecutive penalties called against them. However, the Eph's penalty kill unit and Evan Ruschil buckled down to successfully kill off each penalty. After the first period, Evan Ruschil had made 13 saves, while Smith had recorded 8 saves.
 
Going into the second period even at one, both teams were itching to take the lead and both teams upped their offensive and defensive energy. The Ephs came out advantageous when sophomore defenseman Faisal Alsaif, assisted by Connor Tobin, capitalized on a slap shot two minutes into the period. Feeding off Alsaif's momentum, senior captain Niko Karamanis, assisted by Ben Lawrick, broke away from the Cardinal defense to slip the puck into an opening to boost the Eph lead to 3-1. In the second period the Ephs had outshot the Cardinals 11-9. 
 
The Ephs took their previous lead and extended it to 4-1 at 6:46, in the third period. Mac Carso scored with assistant captain Connor Kucharski and Sean Clarke assisting to give the Ephs a 3-goal cushion. Carso's slap shot deflected off other players sticks and shot straight into the goal.
 
Forty seconds later, sophomore defenseman Ethan Prout scored the fifth Williams goal of the game. Prout's shot snuck passed Smith unnoticed until it was too late. With less than 15 minutes remaining in the period, the Cardinals were desperate to close in on the Ephs lead. However, at 15:11 sophomore forward Sean Clarke, assisted by Niko Karamanis, posted the Ephs' sixth and final goal of the game. Clarke received Karamanis's pass and shot it into the top corner of the goal.
 
Despite a 5-goal margin of victoty the EPhs only outshot the Cardinals by one, 31-30
 
Next on the schedule for the Ephs is a home contest on January 11^th at 3PM against Connecticut College in Lansing Chapm,an Rink..
 
"I'm really happy with how we played today against such a well-coached team that is playing well," commented Eph  head coach Bill Kangas. "I thought all zones and all lines played well and we responded well after they had scored the first goal. We're excited to go into our home match this Tuesday against Conn College and continue working and growing as a team".