DANBURY, CONNECTICUT– The Ephs cruise to a 21-8 win as they continued their excellent run of form away from home. The Ephs were 17-17 on clears, forced nine turnovers, and won 20 ground balls as their defense helped propel their clinical offense to find 21 goals from 36 shots.
The Ephs opened up the game firing on all cylinders and came out to an early 1-0 lead thanks to Madison Fulcher-Melendy's free-position goal. Isabel Arvelo added to the Ephs lead with 9:26 left in the first quarter after a clinical free-position finish. The Ephs added their third goal of the game after a little bit of genius from Lily Warendorf to find Shea van den Broek for the goal, which forced a West Conn timeout. Isabel Arvelo got her second of the game a few moments later from a free position.
The clinic from the free position continued after Abby Godwin got one of her own when she tucked it past the West Conn goalie to take a 5-0 lead. West Conn got on the board a few moments later from one of their own free-position opportunities courtesy of Vicky Gracy. However, the Ephs regained their five-goal advantage thanks to Shea van den Broek assisted by Isabel Arvelo, right before the end of the first quarter. The Ephs came out aggressively to start the game by winning draws, forcing turnovers, and putting on a clinic in front of goal.
West Conn got on the score sheet early twice in the second quarter when they took advantage of the Ephs' fouls in the eight-meter and converted on free-position opportunities. They added another a few moments later courtesy of Dominique Demarsico and cut the Ephs' lead to two. Some patient possession around the twelve meter from the Ephs resulted in Madison Fulcher-Melendy's second goal of the night with just under ten minutes remaining in the half.
There was no stopping the Ephs from the free position in the first half. Isabel Arvelo scored another one to earn her hat-trick, and Shea van Den Broek got her hat-trick as well, which reinstated their five-goal advantage.
Meghan Keenan joined in on the party and scored from a free position to bring the Ephs into double digits. West Conn responded a few moments later through a Vicky Gracy goal. But the Ephs prevented another scoring run from West Conn after Lily Warendorf put on the moves and quickly reached the goal to score and make the score 11-5. The onslaught of attacks continued when an unbelievable pass from Shea van Den Broek found Lily Warendorf, who slotted the ball into the net.
The Ephs earned their biggest lead when Lily Warendorf returned the favor to Shea van Den Broek for a goal before halftime. Or so we thought, Madison Fulcher-Melendy earned the Ephs' a nine-goal lead after she unbelievably beat the buzzer going into halftime. The impressive performance from the offense in the first half could also be attributed to lockdown defense from the Ephs with many forced turnovers in conjunction with saves from Caitlyn Joyce.
West Conn got on the board first in the second half courtesy of Vicky Gracy's hattrick goal. However, like they had been doing all game, the Ephs responded through a give and go between Isabel Arvelo and Claudia Russell, finished off by Russell. The Ephs acquired their double-digit lead through a brilliant team goal finished off by Lily Warendorf. The Ephs tacked on another one through Shea van den Broek followed by a goal from West Conn, thanks to Colleen Crotty.
The one-sided story of the game continued as Shea van den Broek ripped a shot into the goal without taking a step from a free position which had the goalie perplexed. West Conn got one back to cut the Ephs' lead to ten through Colleen Crotty. The Ephs added two more and broke the twenty-goal threshold, one of those goals coming from Sasha Landau, who scored her first of the season, and the other from Sarah Skidmore. The Ephs added another with 3:20 left to take a 21-8 lead courtesy of another Sasha Landau goal assisted by Elsa Dean-Muncie.
"The team just came out firing and confident, they were excited to put some things on the field that we have been working on, it was a great team win. Lots of people contributed tonight including Madison Fulcher-Melendy, Shea van en Broek, and Molly Hellman. We are excited to carry this forward." Head coach Alice Lee stated post-game.
The Ephs will look to carry this momentum into rivalry weekend vs Amherst in Williamstown, Massachusetts, on Saturday, April 16th at 6:30 PM.
