AMHERST, MA – The Amherst College men's lacrosse team faced off against visiting NESCAC and Little Three archrival Williams College this afternoon at Gooding Field in a crucial conference matchup. The Lord Jeffs forced a three-way split of the 2008 Little Three title with a 17-8 thumping of the Ephs.
Amherst snapped a three-game losing skid with the victory to improve to 7-5 overall, and 2-4 in NESCAC competition. The victory dropped Williams to 4-5 for the year, and more importantly gave Amherst the head-to-head advantage in the conference table with the Ephs sitting at 2-5.
The Lord Jeffs jumped out of the gate to score the first four goals of the game, with the first pair coming off the stick of midfielder J.T. Milone (Manhasset, NY) on unassisted tallies. Senior tri-captains Will Ferrer (Greenwich, CT) and T.J. Jackson (Haverford, PA) added scores to put Amherst up 4-0, before Williams responded with their lone goal of the first quarter. On Jackson's goal, the veteran player beat his man out of the substitution box after a face-off and rushed in for a one-on-one with Eph goalie Michael Gerbush.
In the second stanza, Amherst saw Eph attackmen Michael Vrla score the opening goal, before Milone and Jackson rolled off three consecutive scores to expand the lead to 7-2. Williams added a man-up goal, before junior Brett Miller (Wantagh, NY) fed classmate Thomas Foote (Newtonville, MA) for the half's final score.
At the half, Amherst held a dominating edge in every statistical measure. The Jeffs out-shot the Ephs 23-17, and won the groundball and face-off battles 16-10 and 8-3, respectively.
In the third quarter, the two rivals traded scores for the first six goals of the frame, with six different players getting into the mix during the stretch. After Williams scored with 28 seconds remaining in the period, Amherst sophomore Alex Miller (Sudbury, MA) grabbed the ground ball off the ensuing face-off and went in to score on his only shot of the game after just eight seconds. If the response was not enough for Amherst, Ferrer followed suit with a goal just 15 seconds later to close the third period up 13-6.
The Jeffs scored their lone man-up goal of the game to start the fourth and final period, as Ferrer put home his third goal of the game off a feed from sophomore Tom McDonnell (Manhasset, NY). Ferrer's goal was one of the nicest shots of the day, as he dropped his hands down for a low-to-high score from the right wing. Amherst went on to outscore Williams 4-2 in the final frame to close out an impressive 17-8 victory.
Leading the way for Amherst were Jackson and Brett Miller with six points apiece. Jackson scored five goals and had an assist, while Miller dished out six of the Jeffs' 12 assists. Milone added four goals and an assist, while four teammates had a single goal. Amherst goalie Matt Pietroforte (Brooklyn, NY) made 18 saves in the win, as he continues to be the class of the NESCAC.
Williams was paced by Vrla and teammates Dixon Hargrove, David Hawley, and Richard Reuter, who all scored a pair of goals. Gerbush was solid in net making 11 saves for Williams.
The Lord Jeffs will have the week off before traveling to face Bowdoin next Saturday at 1 p.m. in another must-win NESCAC game. Williams will next take the field at home against Keene State on Tuesday.
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