MIDDLETOWN, CT – The Williams College Ephs (8-9-2) hit the road today to travel down to play the Wesleyan University Cardinals (5-11-3). The Ephs started out strong, taking the lead early, demonstrating strong resilience against the Cardinals' push-back, and keeping their momentum. However, halfway through the 3
rdperiod, Wesleyan took the lead and managed to deny the Ephs pressure with 6 attackers on the ice to take the win away from Williams by a score of 3-2.
The first period started off exactly the way the Ephs wanted, with the freshman
Bobby Corkery letting one go from the neutral zone, putting the Ephs up 1-0. This gave the traveling Ephs life as they continued to excel in all three zones. Williams also demonstrated great discipline as they remained penalty free for the first period, something that head coach
Bill Kangas brought up this past week in practice.
The second period saw Wesleyan score their first of the night, however, only a few minutes later
Nate Heithoff would connect with
Trevor O'Brien to put the Ephs up by 1, 2-1. It was a great passing play to get out of the defensive end, before the two forwards moved into position and beat the Cardinal's goalie far side. The Ephs also had an opportunity the execute on their only power play of the night but unfortunately were shut down.
Moving into the third period, Williams was looking to wrap this one up. Even with killing off a penalty and using that as momentum to try and push them forward, the Cardinals found the tying goal along with the go-ahead goal only 1:30 afterwards. There was a great push, with time winding down, to pull goalie
Cal Sandquist and put the extra forward on the ice. Shots were raining down, but nothing found its way into the back of the Wesleyan net. This game would then come to an end with the Ephs falling 3-2.
Eph head coach
Bill Kangas had this to say post-game, "Our team worked hard tonight. We need to do a better job of limiting our turnovers, however, give Wesleyan credit for capitalizing on our mistakes. The guys will learn from tonight's game and be ready for a tough Trinity team tomorrow."
