The Amherst men’s lacrosse team had a stellar performance against their rival Ephs this past weekend. Williams, coming off a big win over seventh-ranked Tufts in their previous game, stepped onto the new Pratt Field last Friday night with hopes of continuing their success. The Jeffs, who drew a big crowd in honor of their seniors, did not waver and were able to top the Ephs 14-9 thanks to big three-goal days from sophomores Dylan Park and Kane Haffey, as well as another six-assist game from fellow sophomore Quinn Moroney, who earned NESCAC Player of the Week Honors this past week for his stellar performance.
Kevin Curry ’15 opened the scoring for Amherst about a minute into the first period. His goal was the first of three consecutive tallies for the Jeffs, as they saw two more scores from Park and Sam Carson ’17, respectively.
Williams rattled off two goals, including a man-up score with 1:38 remaining after Curry was penalized for a crosscheck. Park scored his second of the game with thirty seconds left, but Williams found the back of the net with five ticks remaining on the clock to go into the second period only down one with the score at 4-3.
Park and Haffey scored the first two goals of the next period, but the Ephs responded quickly with two more of their own. Seniors Devin Acton and Aaron Mathias scored to extend the lead to 8-5, with the assists coming from Q. Moroney and Patrick Moroney ’14, respectively. Mathias sniped some cheddar with just three seconds on the clock during a man-up opportunity to send the Jeffs into the second half with some momentum, leading 9-5.
Amherst rattled off five-straight goals in the third, four of which came during a 2:00 locked-in penalty on the Ephs when the Amherst man-up unit went “bonkers”, according to coach Jon Thompson. Ben Allison of the Ephs certainly didn’t feel too good about the progression of events while he was incarcerated for his illegal play. Haffey and Chris Albanese ’17 had two goals during the run, and Mathias notched another to extend the lead to 13-5.
Later, Ryan Cassidy ’16 was nailed with a 3:00 penalty after a big hit on his Eph opponent. Although Williams scored twice to cut the lead to 13-7, the Jeff man-down unit held them just to two goals.
Williams managed to out-score Amherst 2-1 in the final period, but the Jeff lead was insurmountable. Amherst dominated all aspects of the game, as they had more shots and groundballs, fewer turnovers and scored five goals during four man-up opportunities.
Senior Greg Majno played all sixty minutes in goal and racked up six saves on the evening. Amherst improved to 11-3 on the year, and 6-3 in the NESCAC. They also locked up a playoff spot with the win and will try to improve their seeding Wednesday afternoon with a home tilt against Trinity.
The Bantams, who are 4-10 on the year and last in the conference, are not to be overlooked, as the Jeffs look to end their regular season on a high note with another home win. They look to lock up a high seed for the NESCAC championship this weekend, April 26-27, held at Bowdoin.
