Middlebury defeated Amherst today, at Amherst, 7-6 in OT. It was not a pretty game by any stretch, but we’ll take the “W”, especially in a tight game, coming off the two losses in tight games. I thought we generated some good opportunities early and looked to be in control, but when we did not finish those opportunities (one part ineptitude, one part good saves) we seemed to tighten up and they gained some momentum defensively. We had spent a lot of time practicing zone this week, given that they had played quite a lot of zone recently. Of course, they came out and played man-to-man the entire game. Not only that, they shut off with short sticks and pushed out with poles, so it was a style of man that did not allow us to get into a great rhythm offensively. It was also a style of man that could have yielded a bunch of scoring opportunities were we a little sharper and at a point in the season in which we were more confident, but we never were able to mount any runs.
After a 0-0 1st Quarter both teams netted 2 goals in the second. One on a nice lefty bounce shot by Will Simpson and one on a great outside shot by Aaron Herter, just inside the goalie’s head. . We were only able to score 1 in the 3rd as we had some short possessions and too many TO’s. The one goal was from Jim Cabrera who returned after missing both of our two losses. He was getting shut off most of the game, but worked hard to get the ball and generated some quality shots when he did get the ball, only to be stopped by the goalie. He finally did net one falling down (as he is wont to do, often!), which was nice because it was during a possession in which the short stick was shutting him off, so Jim was able to take advantage of being played by a short stick We went into the 4th trailing by 1 and easily could have tightened up, given our recent failures in similar situations. We responded well, however, scoring 3 in the final stanza, two of them by Henry Sheehan on assists from Aaron Herter. The other goal was an impressive split dodge by Freshman Mike Stone who split from his right to left and then stuck a lefty shot in the upper corner. Mike looked poised down the stretch dodging and making good decisions with the ball. He was a guy we were willing to go to in the 4th Quarter and OT which is saying something for a Freshman.
The defense and Alex Palmisano played very well at their end of the field. Gabe Wood was given the task of covering their speedy attackman who was the co-Player of the Year in our conference last year and he held him to 1 Assist on the day, and that one was not Gabe’s fault. Gabe was outstanding against him all day and was also an impact player on ground balls and in transition. Sophomore John Bambrick stepped into the starting lineup for an injured Ben Raymond and was outstanding. He has been excellent in the role of our 4th Defenseman, so we were not surprised that he played well, but we were pleased he played as well as he did. If we had a shortcoming on the defensive end it was coming up with ground balls in some key situations. Some of that can probably be attributed to not being able to practice on grass, other than two days in CT on spring break. We are hoping our grass fields are ready by Tuesday’s practice and for Wednesday’s home game vs. Tufts. No excuses for a Middlebury team to not be dominant on the ground, however, so you can imagine when we get on grass Tuesday there will be a fair share of Ground Balls picked up and the words “scoop through the ball with 2 hands” will be said ad nauseum!
It does not get any easier this week with Tufts coming up here on Wednesday and then at Bowdoin next Saturday. We look forward to seeing many of you for the Bowdoin game…good luck!
Best,
Erin