Middlebury defeated Wesleyan 15-7 on Saturday at Western CT State University.  Thank goodness for the switch of venue, as the rain was steady and heavy, and it would have been an absolute mess on the Wesleyan fields, which were only recently cleared for play.  With all due respect to everyone who played in mud for many years, I/we have become spoiled and we enjoyed playing on a great Western CT field.  They have Field Turf which is a great surface for the rain, no slipping at all.  They also have a great stadium with an overhang to protect the fans from the rain.

Wesleyan is the second team of the year to play almost the entire game in zone against us (Springfield being the other.)  We were not as surprised by the zone as we were when Springfield played one, and the offensive players handled it well.  We were able to dominate possession time with patient work on the offensive end, excellent riding and ground balls, a couple of early, outstanding saves by Alex Palmisano and dominant face off work by Peter Mellen. 

With all of these pieces coming together, we played as good a half in the first half as we have all season.  The half ended with us up 10-1 against a very good Wesleyan team.  It was a balanced first two quarters, as we were ahead 5-1 after the 1st and then outscored the Cardinals 5-0 in the second.  The key to the scoring was excellence in all phases.  As I mentioned, we had patient and effective possessions against the zone, we converted a number of unsettled situations created by riding, and we scored 3 times in man up situations.  Leading the way in the scoring column was again Freshman Jim Cabrera who ended with 4 goals and 2 assists and several more excellent opportunities.  He also sold out several times in the riding game, establishing himself as much more than a scorer.  Lots of other players contributed to a balanced scoring effort, with Aaron Herter, Nick Bastis and Jon Sisto each netting 2, while Mark Foster and Travis Meyer each assisted on a pair. 

Wesleyan was stifled on offense in the first half, with an outstanding effort by Ed Brown on their top player, and excellent short stick defense by Mike Murray and Chip Campbell. We consistently put Ed on the other team's top player and he consistently shuts him down. On the few occasions when they did generate any quality shots, Alex Palmisano stuffed them on the doorstep, keeping them from staying in the game.

The final nail in the coffin was Peter Mellen facing off.  I don't have his statistics, but the statistics don't tell the story. Pete just battled all day. He was physical, scrappy and relentless.  He set the tone for the rest of the team.  The defining play on the day for Peter was when he picked up the ball on our defensive half of the field and carried down our sideline, getting hacked the entire way by their long stick middie, who was throwing heavy checks and getting all glove, thumb, arm and leg.  He probably threw 4 brutal checks just in front of our bench.  Their team was shutting off, thinking the LSM would take the ball away.  You could read the determination grow in Peter on each slash.  As he approached the restraining line, he split into his right hand toward the middle of the field, took several steps inside the box and fired a shot to the corner for a goal.  He then quietly ran to the sideline without demonstrating what I am sure was some great satisfaction.

The game ball went to Jon Sisto who had 2 goals and an assist on the day.  He had recently been replaced in the starting lineup, more for the quality play of others than anything he is doing wrong.  The game ball was given in part for his play against Wesleyan and in part for how well he handled being replaced in the starting lineup. He was outstanding in practice and stepped right into the game and made a huge contribution.  We have 6 attackman who can all play right now as well as 8 long sticks who can all play (there are a few more good players at each position, the 6 Att and 8 Long Sticks are just the guys capable of playing very well right now.)  At one point early in the season, with injuries and hockey still going on, we felt a little thin.  We now are very healthy and have everyone out and we are very deep.  This will be both a strength and a challenge for this team as we progress.  

We have played well recently, but will need to keep it up as we play against a couple of quality opponents this week, with RPI at home Tuesday and Amherst at home on Saturday.