Box Score Hartford, Conn. – Senior attackman Connor Roddy (Medfield, Mass.) had three goals and three assists, including the game-winner inside the final minute, to lead the visiting Williams College Ephs to a wild men's lacrosse win over the Trinity College Bantams in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) action this afternoon on Sheppard Field. The game, which was the season opener for both squads, featured an eight-goal third quarter for the Bantams and a fourth period that saw neither team lead by more than a single point. Trinity senior captain attacker Ryan DeSimone (Smithtown, N.Y.) made his way through the Eph defense for a shot from close with five seconds left but was stopped on a game-saving save by Williams senior goalie Miles McCarthy (Framingham, Mass.).
DeSimone had given Trinity a 2-0 lead after on two of his game-high seven goals came in the first 4:15 of play. Williams answered with four goals in a row by four different players to lead, 4-2, after one quarter. Trinity captain Seth Bird and first-year Ben Knaus (Ross, Calif.) scored 40 seconds apart early in the second frame to tie it at 4-all, but Eph junior attackman Thomas Fowler (Summit, N.J.) powered a 5-0 run by the visitors with three goals in less than three minutes to start the spurt.
Trailing, 9-4, at halftime, Trinity scored the first three goals of the third period in a three-minute span, including the first two from Bird to DeSimone. Each team scored three times over next eight minutes, but the Bantams closed the third frame with three unanswered tallies including the last with 26 seconds on the clock from Bird to DeSimone to tie the contest at 12-12 after three quarters. DeSimone scored yet again just 20 seconds into the final period, giving Trinity its first lead since the first quarter, 13-12, and Knaus added his second goal moments later, but Roddy ignited a 3-0 Williams run with a goal at the 11:32 mark to push the visitors back ahead, 15-14, with just under six minutes remaining. Trinity sophomore Jack Sharrio (Marblehead, Mass.) scored unassisted with 2:04 left to play to tie the game for the last time at 15-15, but Williams won the ensuing face-off and maintained possession until Roddy's game-winner from junior attackman Michael Fahey (Manhasset, N.Y.) with 50 seconds to go. Trinity rookie Scott Morgan (Grand Rapids, Mich.) won his 19th face-off in 27 attempts to give Trinity one last chance, but DeSimone shot once wide before being stopped by McCarthy on the game's final play.
The game was even statistically as well with Williams finishing with a 51-to-40 shooting edge to offset Trinity's 22-to-32 advantage on the face-off. Bird finished with four points on a goal and three assists, while junior Stefan Pappas (Millstone, N.J.) added a goal and two assists, and Knaus scored twice for Trinity. Morgan led all players with 14 ground balls, while McCarthy totaled 16 saves and Bantam senior Henry Coote (St. David's, Pa.) had 14 stops.
