Williamstown, MA – It was opening day for the #19 Williams College Ephs (1-0-0) as they continued their budding rivalry with #20 Babson College (1-2). Despite having a seven goal first quarter erased by a solid stretch from Babson, Williams gritted out a 14-13 win thanks to timely saves from goalie
Matt Wetmore and eight goals from
Calvin Caputo.
The Ephs would waste no time in front of the home crowd at Farley-Lamb Field. After some quick possession to begin the game,
Finlay MacKnight would drive towards the goal and finish high to give the Ephs their first lead of the season. It would soon be two as
Bjorn Davidson would feed
Calvin Caputo to open his tally for the year. Keeping up with his fine form of last season, Caputo would once again be found by Davidson to make it 3-0 just three minutes into the game. After Babson clawed one goal back at the nine-minute mark,
Calvin Caputo would pick up a turnover from the Beavers in the Babson half. The attack man would execute a perfect spin-move and fire the ball up top to extend the lead to 4-1. Soon after
Matt Wetmore came up with some crucial saves, however, Babson would squeak one past him to make it 4-2.
Matthew Johnson would answer immediately with a nice move and shot to retake a three-goal lead.
Calvin Caputo would score his fourth and fifth goals of the quarter off feeds from
Nick Bates and
Sam Cragin to end the first quarter of the season with the Ephs up 7-2.
The opening six minutes of the second quarter were back-and-forth with no real offensive threat from either side. Williams would kill off a man-down thanks to a massive 1-on-1 save from
Matt Wetmore, however, minutes later Babson would cut the Ephs' lead to 7-3. Penalty trouble continued for the Ephs, allowing Babson a bit of momentum as the quarter progressed. The Beavers would score another to make it 7-4 and could have had a few more if not for big saves from Wetmore. Babson continued to roll as they would score their fifth and sixth goals to cut the Ephs' lead to one. With time ticking down in the half, Williams would take back some of the momentum with a goal from
Will Doran assisted by
Ryan Nagle.
The Ephs began the second half up 8-6, hungry to turn around the second quarter woes. Following a Babson penalty to start the half,
Pearse Glavin would find
Harrison Cross for a man-up tally to extend the lead to 9-6. Six minutes later, Cross would draw an assist to
Calvin Caputo as the forward buried his sixth goal of the game to make it 10-6. With five minutes remaining in the third quarter, Babson answered with four goals in three minutes to level the game at 10.
Babson took their first lead of the game to begin the fourth quarter as they would fire home two in quick succession to go up 12-10. The Ephs would answer right back with two scores in 45 seconds as
Calvin Caputo and
Harrison Cross found the net to tie the game at 12-12. Babson would take a quick 13-12 lead before
Calvin Caputo scored his eighth goal of the day to level the game once again. The Ephs finally regained the lead off the stick of
Matthew Johnson with ten minutes left in the game. The following seven minutes would prove to be a stalemate as each team grappled for control of the one-goal game. Williams put themselves in a precarious position with three minutes remaining as they went a man down. Massive blocks and knocked-down passes would ensure the Ephs maintained their lead heading back to even strength. With just thirty seconds remaining, the Ephs restarted play with possession and the determination to see out the game.
Eph head coach
George McCormack had this to say following the game: "Babson was the last team we played at the end of last year so they've been on our minds. It was great to start the season the way we did. I am super proud of Matt [Wetmore] for how he played in the cage. Offensively I thought Cal Caputo did an amazing job and our offense in general was a big part of our success today.
Ian Kim was gritty on faceoffs today and I am really happy with the effort we gave to win ground balls today."
Williams looks to continue winning as they host Union College Wednesday at 6:30pm.
