WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. - The Williams College men's lacrosse team lost 17-9 on Saturday afternoon to the No. 8 Wesleyan Cardinals. A first-half Ephs scoring drought allowed the Cardinals to pull away early, despite a solid second half team effort from Williams.
With the loss, Williams drops to 6-8 on the season and 2-7 in the NESCAC. Wesleyan improves to 10-3 and 6-3 in conference play.
The day began with Senior Day festivities, as the Ephs honored their seniors and their families with a pre-game tribute. During the game, senior captain
Will Doran led Williams with four goals and two assists, and classmate
Cade Schuckman added two goals. Another senior captain,
Ryan Johnson, had a goal and an assist, and
Ian Kim was strong in the faceoff circle, winning 14 of 21.
Aidan Housenbold led the team with three caused turnovers and also had three ground balls. The Ephs also celebrated seniors
Drew Nicholson,
Lewis Schrock,
Will Erickson, and
Jamie Mazzacco for their contributions to the program.
Once the game got underway, Wesleyan jumped out to a quick lead just over one minute into the action. But senior Doran countered in the final home game of his career with a wraparound finish after a slick pass fake to make the score 1-1 with 13:24 to play in the first period.
Seniors continued to make things happen in the first. After Wesleyan scored two goals and held Williams to a scoreless stretch,
Ryan Johnson buried a shot into the right side to cut the gap to 3-2, which was how the score would stay for the rest of the first period.
The Ephs then endured a prolonged drought in the second period, as Wesleyan scored seven goals over thirteen-plus minutes to establish a 10-2 lead. After the Cardinals' tenth goal, Williams won the ensuing face off and Felsenthal found himself open inside, cutting the lead to 10-3 with 1:23 to go in the half.
One minute later, as the Cardinals were attempting to hold for the final shot of the half, they turned it over. With under ten seconds to go,
Brody Page picked up the ground ball and sprinted towards the Cardinals' goal, before firing his shot a little high and out of play. The Ephs retained possession behind the net with just two seconds to go, and upon the resumption of play, Felsenthal found a cutting Doran, who flipped the ball behind his back and into the net for a highlight-reel goal at the buzzer to cut the gap to 10-4 entering halftime.
The team's late-half momentum was halted by the Cardinals, who scored consecutive goals to open the third period. With 5:34 left in the third period, Doran finished his hat-trick with a contested finish to make the score 12-5. After another Wesleyan goal, Williams utilized a man-up advantage for a goal, with
Davis Miller finding Schuckman wide open inside. The Ephs headed into the fourth period down 13-6.
Williams opened the fourth period with momentum. On another man-up advantage, Doran found Schuckman for a point-blank finish with 14:28 to go in the game. A few minutes later, Doran scooped up a bouncing ball on the right side, drove in uncontested, and finished low to cut the lead to 13-8 with over twelve minutes to go.
From Doran's goal onward, however, Wesleyan clamped down, allowing just one more goal from the Ephs – from
Jack Sartorius – and solidifying a 17-9 victory.
Despite the defeat, the Ephs' seniors showed out, combining for seven of the team's nine goals. Doran led the way with four, Schuckman scored twice, and
Ryan Johnson had one. Doran also tied with
Davis Miller for the team lead, with two assists.
The Ephs will look to close out the regular season strong on the road against Middlebury. The match will take place at 4:30 pm on Wednesday.
