Middlebury defeated Bates yesterday 15-6 earning the right to advance to the NESCAC Finals today (Sunday) at Noon. Middlebury will face the #4 seed Wesleyan who defeated Amherst 13-9 in the other semi-final. Sunday will mark the second consecutive year that Middlebury and Wesleyan have met in the NESCAC Finals.
Dave Leach got the Panthers started on the right track in the 1st Quarter Saturday, dodging for two goals in the 1st Quarter. While the 2 goals would be Leach’s only points of the game, they set the tone early for a confident offense and team. Bates has proven themselves a much-improved, quality team over the course of the season, beating Wesleyan earlier in the season 13-6 and beating the #2 seed Bowdoin in the 1st Round of the NESCAC Playoffs to earn the spot in the Semi-Finals vs. Middlebury. Leach’s goals did not stop Bates from their trademark hard play and smart execution on offense. Some timely saves by their keeper also kept them close to Middlebury into the 3rd Quarter. The game scenario was similar to a week ago when we led Bates 8-4 at the Half, they inched closer early in the 3rd and then we ran away from them. In Sunday’s game it was a 6-4 half, they closed to within one in the 3rd Quarter and then did not score again for another 20+ minutes before tallying their sixth and final goal.
The story for our offense was once again balance with 5 attackmen tallying at least 3 points, none of the points coming late in “garbage” time. The midfield unit of Leach, Aaron Herter and Travis Meyer, along with Jamie Duke are doing much of the generating and set up work, but the attack has come around to provide much of the actual scoring. That development has been the key to our offensive success down the stretch. Mark Foster (2/2), J.P. Coviello (2/1) and Jon Sisto (3/0) came off the bench to spark us yesterday, while starters Henry Sheehan (1/2) and Jim Cabrera (2/1) also provided solid offense. The attack is doing a good job of supporting each other and handling what is limited playing time due to playing 6 attackmen fairly equally. They have turned a potentially divisive situation into a strength of the team.
Our defense was tenacious at times yesterday, causing multiple turnovers and converting those turnovers into fast break opportunities. Leading the way was Junior Gabe Wood who had a nifty assist to Henry Sheehan and set up two other goals for attackmen pushing the ball up the field. All of our long sticks, Ed Brown, Will Rawson, Ben Raymond and Scott Atkinson at close defense, as well as Brian Phinney and James Guay at Long Stick Midfield hounded the Bates offensive players. As with our attack, the depth at defense helps by putting different style defenders on the field and giving us the ability to confidently rest our starters. I think we are able to pull off some second half wins because our emotions stay fairly even keeled over 4 Quarters, but also our depth is critical.
Wesleyan is a great team that had a tough stretch in their season to drop them in the league and national rankings, but don’t be fooled, they are very good. They don’t have a lot of depth. They primarily play 3 attackmen, 3 defensemen, 1 LSM and their top 3 middies play a lot. They are all very good. They play zone the entire game and that can give teams some fits. They are excellent at what they do best on offense, feed the ball. They confidently zip feeds into the crease and finish well. We will have to collapse inside on defense and shoot well on offense. As usual, we will also try to create some easy opportunities by riding hard. Jim Cabrera put on a riding display on Saturday, hopefully he can replicate the same today!
Erin