TROY, NY -- It was looking to be an environmentally brutal day for the Williams College Ephs (2-2-0), stepping into a freezing #5 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Engineers (8-0-0) stadium, with snow blowing for the starting of the game. The Ephs would be facing their second matchup this week against a top ranked, lossless, team in the Engineers. Despite matching RPI's initial pressure with a fantastic response in the first half, Williams would fall 16-8 despite four goals from
Pearse Glavin, a full roster of determination, with a great effort from goalie
Matt Wetmore.
RPI came out of the gate looking to take control of the game. They would score two goals in the first minute, and three in the first five. Williams would begin to recover with a big goal by
Ryan Nagle that got the momentum starting to swing the way of the Ephs. With time running down, the quarter would come to an end in the best possible way with Finlay Macknight earning the second, unassisted, goal for Williams that would leave the game 5-2. The attacker finding the back of the net and leaving the Ephs with a positive taste in their mouths going into the second quarter.
The Ephs seemed to take RPI's early advance as a personal challenge and would tie the game by the 14-minute mark in the second quarter. They FO
Ian Kim evened the score at 4-4.
Pearse Glavin put on an absolute show in the second quarter. The attacker recorded three goals with two of those coming from asssits by
Will Doran. This all being yet another display of how the Ephs continued to rise against a difficult opponents\ and even more difficult weather conditions.
With the sun beginning to shine, the third quarter would begin with the Ephs trailing 8-6. Williams would continue to fight against RPI's pressure and held them to only one goal in the first ten minutes of the third quarter. It started to become apparent that the #5 ranking that the Engineers had been earned this week was likely due to their defense. There were constant battles through the neutral zone with the Ephs displaying their usual unwavering determination. Williams would mounted a flurry of attempts that would either fall just wide or be stopped by the RPI goaltender. Unfortunately, things would continue to go the way of the Engineers, as the 3
rdquarter would end with RPI up 11-6.
The fourth quarter was a difficult phase for the Ephs. They wouldn't find their first goal until the 13-minute mark when
Pearse Glavin notched his fourth goal of the day. The attacker continued to push the pace of the Williams offense, not letting the impending score have any effect on his play.
Drew Nicholson would step into a huge shot off a pass from
Calvin Caputo with a minute remaining for the Ehs final tally and an RPI 16-8 win. A difficult result for the Ephs who fought through the whole game. Eph head coach
George McCormack had this to say post-game, "We had a slow start and a poor 2nd half versus a strong RPI team and it resulted in a sub-par performance. We plan on learning and growing from this game and continuing to improve going forward."
The Ephs of Williams College will be looking to turn things around on Saturday as they travel to down to Hartford to battle the Trinity College Bantams.
