Sports
Men’s lacrosse defeats No. 10 Williams at home
By Patrick Malin ’18
April 10, 2015
Fresh off a last minute victory over the Bates Bobcats, the men’s lacrosse team entered the week confident heading into a key stretch of the season against tough NESCAC opponents. Taking the brutal cold and snow in stride, the Continentals began the week tied for sixth in the always-competitive NESCAC with important matchups against #7 nationally ranked Middlebury and Trinity.
On April 1st, the Continental men’s lacrosse team headed to Vermont to take on the Panthers. The first period began unfavorabley for the Continentals as Middlebury scored two quick goals to gain an early lead. In the last three minutes of the first, John Zimmerman ’15 found Joe Ricciuti ’16 who put the ball in the back of the net, trimming Middlebury’s lead to 2-1 at the end of the first period. Midway through the second period, midfielder Pat Donahoe ’16 scored his sixth goal of the season, but Middlebury stormed back, tallying three unanswered goals to take a 6-2 lead heading into halftime.
The Continentals dominated the third period, coming back with a three goal stretch to cut Middlebury’s lead to one goal heading into the final period. Ricciuti scored his second goal of the game and Pax Anthos ’15 and Jack Gaul ’18 each added a goal to enter the final period trailing 6-5.
The Panthers showed why they are ranked #7 in the nation, pulling away and putting the game out of reach in the middle of the fourth period. Responding to the Continentals’ 3-0 run, Middlebury scored five straight goals to take an 11-5 lead with six minutes remaining. Goals by Zimmerman, Anthos and Connor Morgan ’15 showed that Hamilton would not go out without a fight, but it proved to be too little too late, the Continentals fell to Middlebury 11-8.
Just three days later, the team hosted another tough NESCAC opponent, the Trinity Bantams, at Steuben Field. The Continentals got off to a fast start when team points leader Sam Sweet ’16 scored his 19th goal of the season early in the first. Donahoe added his seventh goal of the year under a minute later to put Hamilton ahead, 2-0. Trinity came back strong, however, scoring three straight goals to close out the first period and begin the second, putting the Bantams up 3-2 late in the second. The Continentals once again bounced back, riding goals by Zimmerman, Anthos, and Dan Cahill ’17 to regain the lead 5-3 at halftime.
In a tightly contested third period, Gaul and J.D. Brachman ’17 netted a goal each but Trinity was able to match the Continentals goal for goal, and the third period came to an end in a 7-7 tie. With ten minutes left in the final period, Anthos scored his second goal of the game, a key goal that gave the Continentals a late lead in a must-win game. However, with six minutes to go, Trinity leveled the score, but then conceded an unnecessary-roughness penalty to give Hamilton a man-up advantage. The Continentals seized this opportunity with Zimmerman scoring the winning goal followed by an impressive final five minutes by Will Driscoll ’15 to seal the 9-8 victory.
On Tuesday, Hamilton defeated #10 Williams 11-6, securing a much needed conference win to improve their conference record. The Continentals currently have a 8-4 overall record, with a 4-4 record in NESCAC play.
Two of the final three games of the season come against NESCAC opponents, most notably the undefeated and top-ranked Tufts Jumbos. The Continentals will take on the Jumbos on April 11th in Medford, Massachusetts, followed by a matchup against Connecticut College on April 18, their final home game of the season. They will conclude the regular season at Rensselaer on April 21.