Middlebury lost on Wednesday evening to Springfield 10-11 with the winning goal coming with 5 seconds remaining in regulation.  The winning tally sealed what was a poor effort by the Panthers.  Give credit to Springfield, they executed on both ends of the field.  On their offensive end they had quality possessions and controlled the pace of the game. On their defensive end they pushed out with their poles and disrupted our players. 

The pace of the game and story line was a tale of two halves; but the results were the same at the end of each half.  In the first half our offensive players did not handle their pressure well at all and we turned the ball over too often.  When we had possessions we generated some quality shots, but we did not give ourselves enough opportunities.  On the defensive end we were solid and did not give up a lot of opportunities, so we went into the half with a 4-3 score in a game that would best be described as sloppy.  We came out much sharper on offense in the second half, generating much better opportunities and cashing in on them more often.  Unfortunately, Springfield responded on their offensive end as well and they kept pace with us.  I imagine the game was fairly entertaining for a fan in the second half, but that was of little consolation to us!  Although we improved on offense there were still too many turnovers, we were giving up better shots at our defensive end and we were not helped in the goal.  Ultimately we put in our freshman goalie, Pete Britt in the 4^th Quarter as an attempt to change the outcome at the defensive end, but it was too little, too late.

There were several bright spots on the day.  Gabe Wood and Ben Raymond continued to play well down low on defense for us.  Pete Mellen had another great day facing off.  Nick Bastis was a big spark on offense.  Both Jim Cabrera and Chip Campbell were out of the lineup with injuries so Bastis filled in some at Midfield as well as playing attack and he was the lone bright spot on the offensive end, netting 4 excellent goals.  Freshman Mike Stone had a nice goal in the 4^th after missing on a couple earlier opportunities, but at least he shows the ability to create if he can shoot better in game situations.  Other than that, unfortunately there were more disappointments than quality performances.  There appears to be a group of players who are playing afraid to lose, a group of players that may think we can win just because we are Middlebury and are waiting for us to win, and then, quite honestly, a few too many players that are just too inexperienced to be handling the role they are in currently without upperclassmen stepping up around them.  There was one stretch in the game during which 4 or 5 critical mistakes were made in a row, all by either freshmen or first year starters. 

We will need to learn quickly or we will be in for a tough road!  We play Wesleyan home Saturday and they have proven to be one of the top 2-3 teams in the league the past several seasons.  We then play RPI Tuesday, Amherst Sat., Tufts, Wed, and Bowdoin Sat. before we have a week off to catch our breath.  Every team on the schedule is capable of beating us, but that is the kind of challenge we should enjoy. 

Best,

Erin