The Panthers advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament yesterday with a convincing 21-2 victory over Mt. Ida.  The game was played on Peter Kohn turf field which served as a great venue for the game.  We are fortunate to have Kohn field as a back up site to Youngman field which is in rough shape right now, although it will have to serve as our practice facility to get ready for this weekend's game at Wesleyan on natural grass.

Mt. Ida received an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament after winning the North Atlantic Conference championship.  They had some good athletes and played with a tremendous amount of heart but weren't deep enough to run with us for 60 minutes.

One of the storylines of our season has been our depth as well as our balance on offense.  Yesterday we had 12 different players score a goal, and while no player had more than 3 goals, we had 7 players with 2 or more a piece.  On the season we have 5 players with at least 25 goals which fits in with our mentality on offense of moving the ball and knowing the next guy will be able to make something happen.  As a coach it's nice to know that if an opponent tries to shut one of our guys down that we have plenty of other options who are capable of stepping up.

Freshman attackman Pete Smith (Wilton, CT) was awarded with the game ball after scoring 2 goals and dishing off 3 assists in the game.  Pete has earned more playing time as the season has gone along and is now playing significant minutes for us.  He also has 3 assists in both of our last two games and is leading the team in that category on the season.

As many of you know, the win over Mt. Ida gives us another shot at Wesleyan this weekend down in Middletown, CT.  I think it's going to be a great atmosphere for a game, I would encourage any of you living in the tri-state area to come out and support us this Saturday at 1pm!!!!!!!  We could use your support!