Ephs Shutout by Cardinals 3-0

Williamstown, MA- The Williams College Ephs (9-8-0, NESCAC 9-5-0) were defeated by the Wesleyan College Cardinals (8-8-2, NESCAC 7-4-2) at home tonight at Lansing Chapman Rink. After a scoreless first period, Wesleyan was able to pick up two crucial goals in the last four minutes of the second then topped off the win with an empty net goal in the third.
 
When these two teams faced off in January in Cardinal territory, Williams was able to come away with a solid 6-1 victory. The Ephs entered today's contest riding a two-game win streak against Connecticut College and Tufts University, and the Cardinals with a 3-2 win against Amherst College.
 
In the net for the Ephs tonight was freshman goaltender Cal Sandquist, who sports an 0.902 save percentage this season. In the between the pipes for the Cardinals was Marc Smith who came into today's match up with a 0.878 save percentage.
 
The first period was scoreless and without any penalties. However, the Ephs came out hot and ready outshooting the Cardinals 11 to 6.


 
The beginning of the second period echoed the first. The Ephs dominated shots on goals in the first half, but the scoring drought was broken by Cardinal Go Uemura, assisted by Colin Cobb and Stevie O'Connor at 16:28. Uemura managed to shoot from the front doorsteps into the top shelf. Feeding on that momentum, the Cardinals extended their lead when Wesleyan Jake Lachance, assisted by Colin Cobb, capitalized off a one-timer two minutes after the first goal. With less than two minutes left in the period, the Cardinals kept pushing on the Ephs. In the second period, the Ephs were even at 9 shots on goals with the Cardinals.
 
In the third, the Ephs came onto the ice ready to buckle down and score. The Ephs dominated the majority of the third with 13 shots compared to the Cardinals 6, but most of them were blocked before reaching the goal. With so much back and forth, the Ephs were unable to convert any shots to goal. At 18:25, head coach Bill Kangas pulled Sandquist out from the net to put 6 skaters on ice. However, Wesleyan Tyler Levin took an open opportunity to skate away with the puck and score the third goal of the game. With that, the Wesleyan Cardinals would leave with their eighth win of the season.

"I give credit to Wesleyan. They have been playing well and I am not surprised on how strong they came out tonight. NESCAC teams are always hard competitors," commented head coach Bill Kangas. "I thought we played well today but missed crucial scoring opportunities that the other team was able to capitalize on. We look forward to tomorrow and hope to make some changes from what we learned today".  

The Ephs will be back on ice tomorrow @3pm home against Trinity College.