We defeated
Colby 14-3 on Sunday at Trinity. We were making up the game which was
snowed out earlier in the year.
Our biggest
concern before the game was that we might just try to survive, given that we
were playing back-to-back and Colby was winless in the league. However, I
think our focus on getting better each day and the respect our guys have for
every team in the league helped us show up ready to play. We came out of
the gates fast, building a 5-0 1st Quarter lead. Colby came
out in zone and after one or two tentative possessions the guys were
comfortable with the type of zone and what looks might be available. They
had a 5 man rotating zone with one crease player, so we rotated 6 in and out of
the perimeter, but kept a couple excellent shooters in shooting spots.
With some quality skip passes, we were able to find some openings for the right
players. Jim Cabrera got the scoring started blistering a near-pipe shot
under the crossbar. He then assisted on the next two, both lazer-like skip passes to Nick Bastis,
one on a fast break created by a Pete Mellen face off
and one against the zone. By the middle of the 1st Quarter
they were out of the zone, which pleased all of us, knowing that the game would
not become the slowed-down version of lacrosse the game becomes when zones are
employed. They had some nice long sticks, so their defense buckled down
and played well for most of the rest of the game. Their goalie also
settled down and made some excellent saves. His hands were quick and I
was surprised by his ability to save a couple of the shots he did.
We were
able to get up 6-0 early in the 2nd Quarter, and I think you might
have heard a collective sigh of relief come from our players. That sigh
and subsequent relaxing of our concentration, along with Colby hustle and
goaltending would keep us from doing much good for the next quarter and a half,
at least on offense. The defense gave up 3 goals in the 3rd,
only one of which was the result of poor defense. One of the other two
came off a loose ball when they were able to find an open player on the crease,
the other was a great effort by a talented freshman midfielder from Colby who
was able to hold on to the ball after receiving a hard stick check and was then
able to stick a well-placed, low-corner shot. In the meantime, our stickwork had become sloppy, we forced a couple of
unnecessary passes and Colby picked up their intensity. We went into
halftime with an 8-3 on the heels of what I referred to as a “disgraceful” 2nd
Quarter of play to the team at Halftime. Unfortunately, the 3rd
Quarter would not see the return to “Middlebury Lacrosse” that we hoped and
expected to see. The defense tightened up, Alex made some saves, so we
were able to keep Colby off the board, but we continued to be sloppy on offense
and their goalie continued to make some saves, so both teams came up empty in
the 3rd Quarter. More distressing was that we lost our poise
and that contributed to the uneven play.
The 4th
Quarter saw a return to form and 6 more goals put on the board. The
reserves played particularly well at the end of the game, which was great to
see as it has been difficult to get them into the tight games we have had all
season. It was unfortunate that we were not able to continue on our early
roll and get those guys in sooner. I must say, however, that Colby did
play very well in that stretch and had a lot to do with our drought,
it was simply compounded by our internal problems.
Overall, we
can be pleased with the weekend, if not totally satisfied. Much good came
out of the weekend, following up on the previous exciting week of play.
Pete Mellen was named NESCAC player of the
week, winning 25 of 33 face offs on the weekend, putting him at a 67% winning
percentage for the year.
We have
secured the #1 seed in the NESCAC Tournament. We play Wednesday at
Williams and finish the regular season at home vs. Bates on Saturday. If
we were to lose both games we would remain #1 as Bowdoin and