SALISBURY, Md. - The Williams College men's lacrosse team captured a big victory on Tuesday afternoon, visiting #5 ranked Salisbury University and coming away with a 14-10 victory. Will Doran led the team with four goals, and eight players scored in the win, giving the team momentum heading into another battle against a top-20 ranked opponent this weekend at Bates College.
The Sea Gulls jumped out to a 2-0 lead on Tuesday, but Ryan Nagle and Wyatt Cotton each scored before the hosts scored another to go back ahead, 3-2. But in the final five minutes of the first quarter, the Ephs scored three - first an unassisted goal from Doran, then a Cotton goal from Jack Sartorius, then Sartorius from Ryan Johnson - to take a 5-2 lead. After going ahead with 2:09 left in the first, Williams never trailed again in the game.
Salisbury did keep it close throughout, and outscored Williams in the second quarter 2-1, with the Ephs getting a goal from Doran. The score was 6-5 for the Ephs going into the half. Coming out of the locker room, Ryan Johnson scored a pair of unassisted goals, and after the Gulls pulled a pair back, Doran scored twice unassisted to enter the fourth quarter with a 10-7 lead.
Aiden Housenbold led off the 4th with a goal to put the Ephs up by four, and after a pair of Salisbury goals, Cade Schuckman and Johnson each scored to restore the advantage. The Gulls scored with three minutes remaining and attempted to start a comeback, but their next shot was saved by Charlie Medd, one of his 16 saves on the day, and the Ephs took possession and cleared their zone. They possessed the ball and drew an unnecessary roughness penalty on Salisbury before Nick Reich scored in the man-up situation with 27 seconds to go, and the Ephs rode out the clock from there.
The win was the Ephs' first against a top-5 ranked team in several years, and gives the team momentum going into another road test this weekend at Bates, where the opening faceoff will be at noon in Lewiston, Maine.
