Williamstown, MA - Two rivals met on Farley-Lamb Field on the Ephs' Senior Day, the home-team #10 Williams College Ephs (7-3) and the #17 Amherst College Mammoths (5-5). Despite the high-energy crowd, Amherst started strong and quelled any Williams attempts to keep the Ephs at bay. The Mammoths posted a 17-8 win.
Amherst came out the gate winning the first of several draw controls and after a series of wide and high shots for both teams, the Mammoths netted the first goal off an inside passing play. The Ephs were being covered tightly by Amherst and did not find many cracks in the defense to take advantage of to get their offense in gear.
Capitalizing off this, Amherst would score their second goal with a drive through the center of the crease into a high shot and goal. The Ephs called timeout down 2-0. Soon after Amherst gave themselves a 3-0 lead off an inside spin move. Leaving it all on the field,
Grace Collier scored the Ephs' first goal with a drive from the side of the goal. Williams, however, was not able to build any momentum off this goal.
Amherst returned with two more quick goals. Nearing the end of the first quarter the Ephs started chipping into the Amherst defense and lead with
Claudia Russell scoring on a drive off an inside pass, 5-2. However, the Mammoths returned more emphatically by scoring two consecutive goals off free-position attempts to grow their lead to 7-2. Going into the second quarter, this was certainly not the start the Ephs wished for.
Less than a minute into the second, Amherst added one more with a woman-up goal, 8-2. The Ephs soon found some hope with
Jade Lowe intercepting a pass for a caused turnover and rushing the ball downfield.
Franny Donohue followed this up with a gorgeous maneuver after receiving a pass, splitting her two defenders on a drive and scoring with a bounce shot into the bottom left corner for the Ephs' third goal.
Franny Donohue continued to chip into the lead, tallying a second goal on a high shot with only a shred of space, 8-4 Amherst.
Although the Eph offense was flowing now, the defense still struggled to get stops. The Mammoths scored their ninth off a another free-position shot. After two more empty offensive possessions, one of which followed a caused turnover by
Molly Hellman, Amherst entered double-digit goals skirting by the right of Williams's defense. With five minutes left in the first half,
Franny Donohue kept her hot streak going with a hat-trick almost 8 yards away from goal, 10-5 for the Mammoths. The Ephs seemed cursed in this first half by fouls and lost draw controls with practically no opportunities to utilize their smothering defense to set up their offense.
The Mammoths found their eleventh goal with a low shot into the corner of the goal. Under a minute remaining in the half, the Eph offense stayed determined with
Claudia Russell scoring on a free-position shot bouncing off the Amherst goalie's stick. Thanks to a few crafty offensive plays, the Ephs were still alive in this one as they went into halftime down 11-6.
The Ephs entered the second half looking as determined as ever, although so did Amherst. The Mammoths continued where they left off in the first half, jamming one in right under the stick of Eph goalie
Caroline Pratt. Amherst stuck with what they found success within the first – slowly passing the ball around and searching for their best opportunities. Thus it was not long until that earlier goal became a three-goal run with the Mammoths displaying a clever spin move and then a hat trick goal to force an early Williams timeout.
Coming out of the Eph timeout, Amherst maintained momentum and did not let up on their attack, scoring one more goal after getting fouled and making the free-position shot, 15-6. In what would spell the end for the Ephs, a Mammoth scored again turning and firing into the bottom for the ten-goal lead and live-clock. The Ephs kept fighting but the Amherst lead was insurmountable. Even with full control, Amherst did not take their foot off the gas scoring their seventeenth goal. Eph senior
Stephanie Wistreich scored off a free-position goal to shrink the deficit to 17-7 heading into the fourth quarter.
The crowd in this one kept their passion but the story behind this rival match-up appeared to be finished. Full credit to the Williams roster for continuing to fight in this one. Eight minutes into the fourth quarter,
Reece Willison broke the dry spell for the Ephs off an assist from
Stephanie Wistreich. The final score would be 17-8 for an Amherst victory.
Eph head coach
Alice Lee noted post-game,"Draw controls. We did not have much possession in this one. Kudos to Amherst they came out to play today. We are going to take the lessons from this game and look ahead. We are very excited to have celebrated our seniors today."
Williams looks to post a NESCAC win in their next game at Hamilton College on Wednesday, April 7th at 7 pm.
