Middletown, Connecticut – The Williams College Ephs (2-2, 0-2NESCAC) were on the road today to play the #6 Wesleyan College Cardinals (3-1, 2-0). Despite the first half having a high level of back-and-forth play, Wesleyan managed to take advantage of most of their opportunities in the second half. The final score being 22-11 in favor of Wesleyan. Williams will be looking to get back to Farley-Lamb Field next week where they will host both RPI and Trinity College.
The first quarter was a flurry of action. 4 goals were scored in the first 5-minutes, the first went to Wesleyan, then
Will Doran with a great assist from
Harrison Cross gave the Ephs their first goal. Wesleyan responded with a goal of their own, before the roles for Williams were reversed. This time Doran found Cross who made no mistake in bringing this game back to even standing. With a great faceoff win from
Ian Kim, Williams was on the attack immediately.
Gavin Timoney, with his first of the day, gave the Ephs as 3-2 lead. From the 9:00 minute mark, the next four minutes were a war. Despite a great effort from the whole Williams roster including
Brody Page,
Ryan Johnson, and
Matt Wetmore, Wesleyan scored 4 straight goals. Williams had their determination pay off however, as after a slashing penalty from Wesleyan, Harrison and Doran paired up for another goal, the last of the quarter, leaving the score at 6-4 Wesleyan.
The second quarter started off with a faceoff win from sophomore
Ethan Filler, getting the ball in Williams' possession. After five minutes of play, and on the man advantage, Ryan Nagel picked up a great ball from
Jesse Shapiro to bring the Ephs within one. There were some really great efforts from the Williams men.
Jared Stiller was giving it his all out there, the boys up and down the roster were battling through. It was a rough ending, however, as Wesleyan went on a roll and found themselves up 11-6 over Williams by the end of the first half.
The third quarter had a difficult start for the Ephs. The Cardinals scored the first three before
Harrison Cross tried to get the momentum back in the direction of Williams. The score was 14-7, but Wesleyan started capitalizing again on their chances. They scored 4 more goals in the third quarter while
Jesse Shapiro and
Harrison Cross were the two goal scorers for Williams. With the score being 18-9, Williams looked to try and bring this one back in the fourth quarter. Despite goals from Ryan Nagel and
Harrison Cross in the fourth, Williams would find themselves walking away from this one by a score of 22-11.
Eph head coach
George McCormack had this to say after the game, "We traded goals with Wesleyan most of the first half and it was a competitive game. In the second half Wesleyan clearly outplayed us and shot the ball very well. Going forward we will make every effort to learn and grow from these tough games and get better and better every week."
