Williamstown, MA – On a drizzly night at Farley-Lamb Field, the Williams College Ephs (6-5, 4-3) hosted the Hamilton College Continentals (6-5, 3-5). A back-and-forth first half was capped off by a buzzer beating finish from Finlay Macknight. The momentum flowed into the second half where the Ephs controlled a scrappy game and came out with a 12-9 victory.
It was an uncharacteristic start to the game for the Ephs as their opponents took the early lead. Hamilton buried two goals in the opening three minutes to storm out to a 2-0 lead before the Ephs could respond.
Nick Bates,
Tucker Catlin, and
Harrison Cross fired home back-to-back-to-back goals in a 1:40 span to claim their first lead of the game 3-2;
Gavin Timoney and
Ryan Johnson drew assists during that run. Hamilton tied the game up minutes later before the game settled into a rhythm at the end of the quarter.
Ryan Johnson found the back of the net with two minutes remaining in the frame to help the Ephs to a 4-3 lead at the first buzzer.
Calvin Caputo got the Ephs started in the second quarter with a goal at the 13:41 mark. Hamilton quickly responded to close the Williams' lead to one once again. Cade Shuckman then set up Gavin TImoney for a strike to extend the advantage to 6-4 Ephs with eight minutes remaining in the half. That score held for almost the entirety of the second quarter thanks to stellar goalkeeping from the Ephs
Matt Wetmore who made eleven saves in the half. The crown jewel of the quarter actually came in the dying seconds when
Patrick Gaul picked off a pass with ten seconds remaining. The long stick rushed up the field and dished it to
Calvin Caputo with four seconds on the clock. Caputo ripped an underhand pass across the field to Finlay Macknight who fired the ball past the Hamilton goalie with just .5 seconds on the clock.
Beginning the second half up 7-4 and with the momentum on their side, there was a huge thirty minutes of lacrosse to be played. That being said, it was the Continentals who secured the all-important first goal of the second half to bring themselves within two. Williams squandered their momentum shortly after when
Gavin Timoney let one loose from the slot off a feed from
Calvin Caputo. With five minutes on the clock, Hamilton answered to make it 8-6. Finlay Macknight continued the Ephs' timely goal scoring as the senior hit the back of the net just forty seconds later. The Continentals responded right back after a scrappy finish brought the score to 9-7 Ephs. Seconds later, Hamilton would score again to bring the game to within one goal, at 9-8.
With yet another thrilling one-goal scoreline, the Ephs had their work cut out for them to hold on to a 9-8 lead. They took a step in the right direction when
Calvin Caputo set up
Will Doran for the Ephs' 10th of the game; a minute later,
AJ Zuleta scored to make it 11-8 Ephs. Caputo tallied his fifth assist of the game as he fed
Ryan Johnson for the goal. Hamilton added a consolation goal late in the game, but it was not enough to surmount the deficit as the Ephs won 12-9.
After the game, Eph head coach
George McCormack said, "It was a great, gritty, mid-week NESCAC win. You never know what is going to happen in these games, but I was really happy with our transition offense. We scored four or five goals off the rush, I think that was the real difference in the game. I'm very proud of the guys in general because that was a huge bounce back win after a tough loss over the weekend."
The Ephs look to follow up tonight's performance as they head to Bowdoin on Saturday for a noon game.
