Geneseo, NY— The Williams College Ephs took to the road for their first away game this season against the SUNY Geneseo Knights. The #8 SUNY Geneseo Knights (6-3-2) defeated the Ephs 4-3 (1-3-0) in overtime.
Yesterday the Ephs beat Babson 2-1 in OT, Babson was playing in their ninth game and it was just the third game for the Ephs. Babson is currently ranked #7 nationally. Similarly, while this was the Ephs' 4th game of the year, Geneseo was playing its 11th match.
The Ephs started the game strong with a shot by Jack Sabre and one by Ethan Prout, both testing the Knights' goalkeeper Matt Petizian. The Knights answered back with Tyson Gilmour having two shots, one which missed the net and one which was saved by Evan Ruschil.
The Eph's lock in with an early high short-side goal by Mac Carso assisted by Sean Clarke and a quick pass from Jamie Cates at 2:54. The Knights tried to respond with two shots by Domenic Garozzo, but one was saved by Ruschil and the other missed wide. Henry Muller took a shot looking to bring the lead up to two but it was blocked by Tyson Gilmour and a rebound attempt by Jonah Gold was also saved by Matt Petizian. Both keepers looked sharp as many shots were saved on either side of the ice.
The Ephs ended the period with 12 shots on goal, while the Knights had 15, but that did not stop them from trailing behind by a goal.
The Ephs came out of the locker room in the second period ready to defend and widen their lead over the Knights. Ruschil had a big start to the period in which he saved 5 shots on net in the first eight minutes. Both teams were playing impressive defense at the beginning of the period as all shots were saved and blocked. The Ephs defense continued to hold strong against a Geneseo push with Connor Berg blocking a shot by Stefan Miklakos and Ruschil saving two.
Williams called a timeout at 9:47.
The Knights kept pressing the Ephs defense with a shot by Dakota Zarudny. Once again, Ruschil thwarted their efforts towards the net.
At 12:23 the Knights get a penalty on Mitch Machlitt for boarding, giving the Ephs the first power play opportunity of the game. Faisal Al-Saif took two shots and Nicholas Rashkovsky had a nice shot that was saved by Petizian. The Knights answered back, however at 13:43, with an unassisted, short-handed goal by Stefan Miklakos, tying up the score at 1-1.
Ben Lawrick was then given a penalty for holding, awarding Geneseo a power play, which they capitalized on as Peter Morgan scored assisted by Tyson Gilmour and Dakota Zarudny to put the Knights ahead 2-1. The Knights took their one-goal advantage into the second intermission.
The Ephs, itching to equalize the score, started the third period with a successful faceoff that led to a shot for Jonah Gold which was just wide of the net. First year David Vieten got his first goal for the Ephs shortly after with a cross ice assist by Sean Clarke to tie the game at 2-2.
Ethan Prout and Jamie Cates had two more good shots, but were saved by Petizian. Ruschil was outstanding, saving four successive shots by the Knights. Williams went on the offensive with a shot by Jacob Eckerle which was blocked by Zach Rehbaum, another by Connor Fitzpatrick which was saved by the keeper, and Faisal Al-Saif had a nice shot blocked by Trent DeNuccio. Al-Saif quickly got back on defense and blocked a shot by Stefan Miklakos.
At 10:22 the Knights snuck in a goal by Mitch Machlitt that was assisted by Tyson Gilmour and Carmon Cervon, giving them the lead over the Ephs once again, 3-2. Ruschil and Faisal Al-Saif kept the Ephs in the running, blocking and saving shots, while Frates and Muller tried to pull them ahead with shots on goal. Jonah Gold finally landed one in the net with a long shot rebound from Henry Muller, tying the game at 3 and forcing overtime.
Connor Tobin, Peter Frates, and Mac Carso ended the period shooting for the Ephs, but all shots were saved by Matt Petizian.
Overtime started well for the Ephs with a shot by Jack Sabre that was saved and a save by Ruschil. Sadly, Miklakos, assisted by Machlitt with a recovered turnover behind the net, was able to score his second goal of the day to end the game with 2:21 remaining on the clock.
Goalie Evan Ruschil finished with 36 saves and an impressive .900 save percentage, while the Knights keeper, Matt Petizian tallied 26 saves on .897.
Overall, It was an exciting weekend for Williams playing two top ten teams with both games making it into overtime and all players having impactful moments.
After the game coach Bill Kangas commented, "I thought it was a very good hockey weekend overall, everyone contributed. Today was our first road game. We fought back twice from one goal deficits to tie the game, which will only help us when we get back into league play next weekend."
The Ephs will go on to face the Tufts Jumbos and the Connecticut College Camels next weekend on the road, hoping to return to .500.
