Ephs Down Amherst 3-1 Moving on to NESCAC Semifinals

Williamstown, MA- In the exhiliarating match up against their NESCAC rivals for the quarterfinals of the NESCAC Championship, the Williams College Ephs toppled the Amherst Mammoths 3-1 at home. The Ephs took the lead in the first period with a goal at 9:30 by senior captain Niko Karamanis. The game winning goal was made by Jack Forrest and the win was solidified by a last minute empty net goal by Sean Clarke.
 
With their 3-1 win over Amherst today, Williams swept the season series vs. the Mammoths as they had previously defeated the Mammoths both at home and away.
 
With both teams' seasons on the line, the game started with high intensity. Both teams were evenly aggressive, but the first goal was made by Williams Niko Karamanis, assisted by Jack Forrest and Tyler Cooligan, who made a phenomenal slap shot past Amherst goalie Dan Dachille. The Ephs continued to build their momentum throughout the rest of the first period and pushed against the Amherst defense, preventing them from scoring a equalizer.
 
In the second period, Williams' Jack Forrest, scored and was assisted by Faisal Alsaif and Tyler Cooligan. Forrest exhibited some impressive stick-handling and skating and got past Dachille for the Ephs second goal. After a scoreless first period, the Mammoths were hungry to respond. They finally scored  at 14:52 when Max Thiessen, assisted by Matt Toporowski, slapped the past Evan Ruschil goal on a power play goal. The Mammoths kept pushing against the Ephs until the last minute of the period, but after 40 minutes of play the game was in favor of the Ephs 2-1.


 
With only 20 minutes left in the game, both teams came out hot and ready to play. The Ephs took control of the puck in the first three minutes but the Mammoths managed to post a couple shots on goal. After a lot of back and forth, neither team could convert their shots. At 18:21, Mammoth head coach Jack Arena pulled goalie Dan Dachille off the ice, putting another player on to push the Mammoth offense. While the Mammoths made a good run in the last two minutes, Ephs forward Sean Clarke took control of the puck and made the final goal at 20:00 to solidify the Eph win.

"The energy in the rink today was great," said EPH head coach Bill Kangas. "We are so fortunate to have such great fans support us. The guys really felt the energy and played for their teammates and for the crowd, which made all the difference. I felt that we played really well [on the ice], especially in the first and third periods. Today's game was hard fought and it could have gone either way. I give the guys a lot of credit. They worked hard during this week and last week's practice. To finally see the results of it is great".

Stay tuned for what's next for the Ephs in the NESCAC Championship. The other three NESCAC Tournament quarterfinal contests will be played tomorrow. The highest remaining seed will host the NESCAC semifinals and finals next weekend.