We beat a scrappy Bates team on Saturday 21-10.  The first half belonged to
Holt Hopkins as he scored 5 of our 10 goals.  Bates played a zone with the
short sticks down and the 4 long sticks up, consequently a short stick was
coming out to play Holt.  3 possessions in a row they played that zone, 3
possessions in a row Holt scored on an outside shot!  The key to the game
offensively was balance but also that our big 5 leading scorers all came up
big: Holt was 5/2, Seeley was 4/2 (stats said 3/2 but were incorrect), Dunn
was 3-1, and Jamie Haire was 1-3.  They all distributed the ball well and
rewarded each other's ball movement with great assisted goals.  The
highlight of the day was Zach Herbert's goal early in the 3rd quarter.  He
caught a pass in his right hand but his momentum was carrying him below the
goal line extended (GLE), so he shot an "around the world(wrapped the stick
around his body)" bounce shot to the upper corner.  Zach won the game ball
for the way he distributed the ball, but he definitely helped himself with
style points!

6 v. 6 defense was solid but we gave up a few man up goals and a couple easy
unsettled goals that were disturbing.  We have been playing sound defense,
so we will need a better effort in upcoming playoff games.

We finished the regular season 11-1 overall and 8-0 in NESCAC.  Wesleyan and
Middlebury both finished 8-0 and we do not play each other, so the #1 seed
for the NESCAC tournament was decided by a coin flip.  I thought they should
have had the committee make a subjective opinion, but they decided to go
with a coin flip which I think is fairly ridiculous.  We won the coin toss
and we are the #1 seed.  We get a bye on Tuesday and host a final 4 at
Middlebury next weekend.  We will play the lowest remaining seed from the
first round games on Saturday at 3:00pm in the stadium.  The other two teams
will play at 12:00.  The match ups are: #2Wesleyan vs. #7Amherst, #3 Bowdoin
vs. #6 Tufts, #4 Conn. College vs. #5 Trinity

Wesleyan, Bowdoin and Conn. College all come into the playoffs playing very
well while Amherst and Trinity are limping in a little.  It is a pretty wide
open field, though.  I will give an update during the week as to whom we
will play.