Middlebury defeated Trinity at Trinity on Saturday 12-7 in a torrential downpour.  Our weather pattern for the year held true as we have played every away game (except Tufts) in a cold downpour, while our home games have all been played under brilliant sunshine.  The conditions played some part in the game, as we played on their Astroturf field which can be a little slick in the rain.  The players were throwing and catching well for both teams, however, so it could have been worse.

Trinity came out as the sharper team in the 1st Quarter, so there had to be a fear that we could have a repeat of last year's 11-10 game in which Trinity looked excellent, certainly much better than their won/loss record indicated.  I knew going into this game that despite their record they had an excellent goalie, good skills on offense and athletic defensemen.  Their top middie, who is one of the better middies in the league, started them off on the right foot sweeping hard to his right and ripping a shot past Palmisano for a goal.  He would end up with 3 goals on the day, but the rest of his team would not provide the same kind of pressure.

The 1st Quarter demanded a little patience on our part as they played two long sticks against our midfield, putting a short stick on one of our attackmen.  It took a while to feel out how we would attack them, and their goalie made some nice 1st Quarter saves when we did attack them well.  The quarter ended with Trinity leading 2-1.  The 2nd Quarter would be a different story as we opened things up on offense, Pete Mellen dominated face offs, and we rode them incessantly.  All of these combinations added up to a 6 goal quarter and we went into halftime leading 7-4.  The riding and face offs were particularly important as those phases were the nail in the coffin to our excellent offensive production.  They could not mount a serious threat without the ball and we were able to get a great rythm on offense.

Their was some balanced scoring on offense, but some particularly bright spots at attack.  Henry Sheehan has been playing great and received a starting nod.  He responded by netting 2 goals and 3 assists, including our first goal of the game, making me look good for starting him!  Mark Foster was the attackman replaced by Sheehan in the starting line up. He responded by getting 4 goals.  J.P. Coviello is our 6th attackman who plays on man up and gets some playing time in addition, but less than the top 5.  He had 2 goals and an assist!  None of these guys scored in mop up duty, they were quality goals.  Senior captain and short stick d-mid, Mike Murray, added 2 goals on excellent shooting.

The close defense played well, smothering their attack.  I thought Gabe Wood and Ben Raymond played particularly well.  Ben has tremendous hands and was able to put the ball on the ground several times.

Henry Sheehan received the game ball in honor of his response to getting his first start.