We were involved in another tight one yesterday down in Hartford but the good news is that this team keeps finding a way to get it done at the end of the day.  Yesterday's game was a tale of two halves.  In the first we simply played uninspired lacrosse, it looked like we were sleepwalking through the game which was hard to believe considering the enormous crowd on hand.  It was their spring weekend and there were hundreds and hundreds of coeds and young alums right down on the field which I thought would have fired up our team from the start.  After being shut out in the 2nd qtr and trailing 5-3 at the half, we came out firing in the 3rd, scored 5 goals and tied the game at 8 after 3.  We didn't change anything at halftime x's and o's wise, we just challenged the team to start playing with some intensity and confidence which they did.

We're fortunate to have such an experienced group on the offensive end that have been through so many tight games and play with the confidence that they're going to be able to score anytime they're on the field.  It doesn't always work out that way, but their attitude is that they're going to score each time we have it.  The good news is that we still have some things we can get better at on that end and the areas where we can improve are very easy to implement.

Defensively we gave up double digit goals again but that group continues to improve as we get deeper into the season.  However, for us to make a run here I think a few light bulbs are going to have to turn on, we'll see.....  Coach Ritter has done an excellent job with this group to take them from where they were in the middle of February to where they are now.

As far as performances that are worth noting, you can pretty much guess who's stepping up for us at this point.  Mike Stone had 4 goals in the 2nd half including the game winner where he dodged their long pole up top and then ran over the slide before sticking a shot right handed.  He will not be denied right now and is a tremendous competitor.  When we needed to win the face off after his goal at the end of the game, we put him on the wing and he proceeded to knock two Trinity players off the ground ball so Dave Campbell could scoop it up easily and touch it in the box.   Dave had a fantastic game as well.  Skyler Hopkins had some nice drives to the hoop left handed where he stuck the ball in the lower corner on the run.  He's shooting the ball so hard with both hands and his so comfortable going to his left that most teams are now yelling "LEFTY!!" when he touches the ball.  Sky is definitely right handed.

Another guy who gets overlooked because he mainly a transmitter of the ball is junior Chris Teves.  Chris is splitting runs on the first midfield line with Mike, Skyler and freshman Tim Cahill.  Chris made some great decisions yesterday and also stuck a righty shot in the upper corner for our 9th goal to give us our first lead since we were up 1-0 early in the game.  Chris is quietly putting together a very good season for us.

The game ball was awarded to senior defenseman Mike Quinn who had a punishing hit in the first quarter as one of the Trinity players was scoring their 3rd goal of the game.  The captain's recognized that Mike was one of the few, if not the only one playing with the kind of intensity that we need for the full 60 minutes.  Mike has been another pleasant surprise for us this year as he's playing a new position and has given us more of a presence on the defensive end.

Time to get ready for the Purple Cows on Friday, it's nice to have a few extra days to get ready for the Ephs.  We're planning on practicing Monday but giving the guys Tuesday off to catch up on some schoolwork and rest the legs a bit.   Williams has quietly been moving up the NESCAC ladder as of late and with their win over Wesleyan yesterday is sitting at 3rd place in the league.