Babson Park, MA – The Williams College Ephs (1-0) hit the road today to start their season off against #17 Babson College Beavers (2-1). They started exactly the way they wanted, securing a solid victory over the Beavers. It wasn't without its challenges, but the determination from the Ephs to keep battling was immediately apparent and helped them secure victory this afternoon.
Junior
Ian Kim got the game going in the right direction with a solid faceoff win and the first shot of the afternoon for the Ephs. Another faceoff win by the junior led to Williams' first goal off the stick of
Ryan Johnson followed by a shot from
Gavin Timoney and a recovery from
Jesse Shapiro. Gavin then found the next Williams goal, tying this game at 2-2. Williams battled through penalties and pressure up and down the field against their nationally ranked opponents for the remainder of the period, walking away still tied at 2.
The 2
nd period started off with a Babson goal, but there was determination in the Williams roster, as once again, the Ephs brought it back to an even score at 3, with a great goal from
Jesse Shapiro. This goal came off an assist from
AJ Zuleta. Regardless of the score, there is something to be said about the determination of the Ephs today. Once again, Babson took the lead, but within the next two Williams responds. This time Ryan Nagel, with his first of the season, brings this game to an even score of 4 with a great offensive effort.
Moving into the 3
rd period the Ephs were trailing by 1. That didn't discourage the Ephs, however, as they continued to keep pushing. That effort paid off for the Ephs late in the period.
Ryan Johnson, with his second of the day, put Williams back within one, as Babson managed to take a two-goal lead. That was then followed up by another faceoff win by
Ian Kim, the junior now 9-14 on the day.
Once again, only a couple minutes into the 4
th period, Ryan Nagel, with his second goal of the afternoon, brought the Ephs back to level standing with the Beavers. From the 10-minute mark to the 8-minute mark, the Beavers managed to fire 6 shots on the Ephs cage. They were all turned away by senior goaltender
Matt Wetmore who had been giving the Ephs a real chance all day. That effort helped give Williams their first lead of the game with a goal from
Seamus Regan off a pass from
Ryan Johnson. With a taste of victory now, Williams took the lead even further with Ryan Nagel completing a hat-trick and putting the Ephs up by a score of 8-6.
Matthew Johnson found the last goal for the Ephs today, making the score 9-7.
Eph head coach
George McCormack had this to say after the game, "Babson College gave us everything that we could handle today. It was back and forth all afternoon. I feel that both defenses played really well and that the difference was
Ian Kim on the face-offs and our team winning ground balls overall.
Ryan Nagle stepped up today and contributed 3 big goals.
Ryan Johnson also helped us with some excellent dodging and shooting."
