We defeated Wesleyan today with less than 1
second remaining (if that is possible) by a score of 10-9. The win
secured the NESCAC Championship and a berth in the NCAA tournament. We
will host
http://www.ncaasports.com/lacrosse/mens/brackets/straight32_dyn/2006/DIII
It was a beautiful day in Middlebury, which thankfully dried out a field which could have otherwise been in rough shape after 2
games in rain yesterday. We met the team at 10:45 in the locker room to
go over a scout since we did not know our opponent going into the
weekend. I was nervous when I walked into the
locker room because everyone looked exhausted after Saturday's Triple OT
effort. One consolation was that I could not
imagine Wesleyan felt any better after traveling and a 16-15 OT win over
Bowdoin Saturday. Both teams responded to the challenge with effort if
not crispness!
As you may remember from past dispatches from Wesleyan games
they play a zone defense and have a very good goalie. We had some nice
opportunities early which we did not finish early and
it seemed to get him into a rhythm after not playing well against Bowdoin
Saturday. Fortunately, we seemed to be in fairly good
control on the defensive end early and we were riding well so we were getting
the ball back after turnovers or saves. However, while Wesleyan gained
confidence defensively and in the goal, we got a little unsettled on our
defensive end and we went into the half down 5-2. We did not have a lot
of flexibility on how we attack them offensively or how we could defend them
since there were no practices before we played them, so there was not much to
grab onto at halftime except to ask the players to hang in there and execute
better doing the same things. That didn't help
much. The 3rd Quarter went much like the first two and we found ourselves
down 7-3 and not at all in sync on either side of the ball.
Then there was what turned out to be an unusual turning point. There was
a loose ball on our sideline which Wesleyan picked up
and transmitted behind the cage. While the ball was going behind the cage
our longstick middie who was covering their best player, one of the top players
in the league, got accidentally picked off by one of our players just running
by him. Unfortunately that occured
just as the middie was cutting to the cage from the
sideline. He cut in front of the cage with noone
near him and, unfortunately, the player with the ball spotted him and fed him
the ball. He had to jump a little to catch it, but one of the top players
in the league had the ball in front of our net with no defenders around him,
and with us trailing 7-3. He shot the ball, but inexplicably he took a
behind the back (really behind the head?) and shot several feet over the cage,
and went in the crease to boot, giving us the ball. We scored 3 goals in the next 2 minutes and a game was on!
Over the second half we were to outscore them
8-4. Jim Cabrera had 4 on the day, 3 in our run
and 4 on the day. The 3 in the second half were
on bounce shots from one step inside the restraining line! A nice goal in
the run from 7-3 to 7-6 came off a face off by Pete Mellen when Pete pushed the ball out front, passed it to
Henry Sheehan at the point. Sheehan pumped right handed and stepped
through the defender to shoot, but Mellen had
continued to cut after he passed, Sheehan found him on the crease for a
goal. Mellen was great all game, was awarded
the game ball and showed tremendous will after battling on 28 face offs
yesterday and taking over 20 today!
Wesleyan scored with 3 minutes remaining to make the score 9-8, but we answered
when Henry Sheehan snuck from behind the net to tuck in a goal with 1:48 on the
clock! Pete won the draw but lost the ball on a check,
Wesleyan called a time out but lost the ball on their ensuing play. The
ball became loose as we attempted to clear it over the Midline and one of their
players picked it up on the sideline where he was sandwiched by 2 Middlebury players. Unfortunately
he was knocked over and our player fell on top of him, giving the official no
choice but to call a 30 second penalty with 30 seconds remaining in the game.
On the offensive end of the field the best thing
Wesleyan does is move the ball and create easy in tight shots, so they are
excellent on man up. We were going to shut off their top middie (he of the BTB shot) with a short stick but he
started with the ball. Our short stick covered him and the middie ran the ball behind to feed, knowing if he passed
the ball he was shut off. Chip
ith a la
st second shot vs. RIT. Somehow
it seemed less likely and crazier than any of those games, though, even more so
than the 3OT thriller from the day before.
"Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never,
never--in nothing, great or small, large or petty--never give in, except to
convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield
to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy." Winston
Churchill, 1941