Williamstown, MA - The Williams College Ephs (7-5) hoped to break their three-game NESCAC losing streak hosting the Bowdoin College Polar Bears (8-5). An early offensive onslaught from Bowdoin was enough to control the strong offensive performances from the Ephs
Claudia Russell and
Franny Donohue. In this low-scoring affair, Bowdoin came out on top 10-6.
The Ephs came out of the gates strong and appeared undeterred from their previous losses.
Anj Raman gobbled up a shot on the first Polar Bear possession and following up was
Claudia Russell with a drive for a high shot and goal, 1-0 Ephs. The Polar Bears won the next draw control but with
Jade Lowe manning the top of the crease, she moved her feet and swung her stick perfectly to force Bowdoin into a wasted possession.
The Eph defense was superb until halfway through the quarter, where a cut from Bowdoin gave them just enough space to score a low shot. Soon after Bowdoin scored their second with a pass through the crease, 2-1. It was lost draw controls that prevented the Ephs from dominating this quarter. Nevertheless,
Franny Donohue had a gorgeous shot, slipping by the defense and shooting the ball right by the Bowdoin goalie's stick. In typical Williamstown weather, the rain and wind picked up heavily. The Polar Bears were undeterred and continued their assault. First with an attacker running all across the crease for the high shot and goal and then next with a near underhand shot that found its way in, 4-2 Bowdoin and an Eph timeout resulted. A steal from
Coco Norman opened the door for the last offensive possession of the quarter, however, the Ephs missed the shot.
Trying to rally back from their deficit, the familiar foes of the Ephs kept haunting them – draw controls and excessive fouling. The Ephs managed to successfully contest the two Polar Bear free-positions shots but some uncharacteristic sloppy passing from the Ephs gave Bowdoin a shot on goal which they converted, 5-2. It would be a quiet handful of minutes for both teams of missed free-position attempts and back-and-forth turnovers, with
Franny Donohue causing a turnover and
Molly Hellman causing two. After a shot-clock violation for Williams, Bowdoin came downfield and scored off a quick step to get past their Eph defender for the 6-2 lead going into halftime.
Bowdoin entered the second half hoping to finish where they left off, scoring their seventh goal off a pass into the middle. The Ephs' dry spell ended with
Claudia Russell scoring her second goal with a high shot off a moving assist from
Franny Donohue. However, Bowdoin did not take long to return the favor with a cutting shot and goal, 8-3. An impressive steal from first-year
Cailin Morrissey built enough momentum for the Ephs to start setting up their offensive sets again.
Zoe Getzin,
Molly Hellman, and
Caroline Pratt were instrumental in ensuring no more Polar Bear goals in this quarter. Turning defense into offense, a free-position hat-trick goal from
Claudia Russell brought the game back within four heading into the final quarter.
It was still anyone's game at the beginning of the final quarter. The quarter began slowly with Bowdoin utilizing as much clock as they could. The tides in this one seemed to be turning with
Meaghan Day beginning a late rally for the Ephs with the help of
Reece Willison threading the needle. Following this up on the defensive end,
Caroline Pratt made three saves in thirty seconds and earned Williams the chance to further break into this lead. Unfortunately for the Ephs, with four minutes left, Bowdoin delivered the dagger with an inside passing play on the side of the goal. The Polar Bears did not end their attack there, adding one more goal and the Ephs topped the game off with a free-position goal from
Franny Donohue to arrive at the final score of 10-6.
Eph head coach
Alice Lee spoke about the missteps today and what to focus on in their next matchup, "A big focus on us. We are in the toughest conference in the country. For us, going into the next game, execution is a big piece of it. We are getting good looks and good stops but we need to execute on the next play."
Williams gets a much-needed break as their originally scheduled Wednesday game was canceled. For their next match-up, they travel to Maine to for a NESCAC encounter with Colby College on Saturday, April 20th at noon.
