AMHERST, MA – The Amherst College men's lacrosse team came up short this afternoon in a valiant comeback effort against 5th-ranked Middlebury College, falling 15-13. Amherst trailed 10-4 at the half, but closed to within a single goal of tying the game before falling in regulation to the undefeated Panthers.
The 8-0 Panthers scored the game's first goal in less than one minute of play on a nice finish by Matt Ferrer, off a Rory Sanborn feed. Amherst responded with a pair of goals, the first coming from Matt Ferrer's cousin, Lord Jeff senior tri-captain Will Ferrer (Greenwich, CT).
With the Lord Jeffs leading 2-1, Middlebury took over for the remainder of the first period, and the first five minutes of the second frame. The Panthers rattled off seven consecutive goals to take a commanding 8-2 lead. During the stretch, the Panthers' Tom Petty scored three straight goals, en route to six on the day. The two sides traded a pair of scores to close the half with Amherst trailing 10-4.
Petty started off the second half scoring with his fourth of the day, just 1:01 into the third quarter, as Amherst looked as though they were in for another long half. The Lord Jeffs flipped a switch after an unassisted score from sophomore midfielder Alex Miller (Sudbury, MA) answered. Miller came off the bench, and beat his man before scoring in traffic on his first shot of the game to ignite his teammates.
From the 9:41 mark of the third quarter to the 11:16 point in the fourth, the Lord Jeffs scored six straight goals to close the gap to 11-10. During the stretch, Ferrer scored his second of the day, while sophomore Tom McDonnell (Manhasset, NY) hit on a pair of shots.
With momentum on their side, and the Jeffs on the verge of tying the game, Middlebury's James Guay was whistled for tripping. The penalty gave Amherst a full minute of man-up action to find the equalizer. During the man-up opportunity, the Lord Jeffs put a handful of their 44 shots on the day on frame, but were unable to beat Panther goalie Peter Britt.
Just 14 seconds after the Guay penalty expired, Middlebury's Alex Giammarco scored an unassisted goal to end the Amherst streak. The Panther's rolled off another two consecutive scores to push the lead up to 14-10.
Amherst scored three of the final four goals of the game, including a pair in the final 50 seconds, but ran out of time for their comeback effort. With the loss, Amherst falls to 6-4 on the season, and just 1-3 in NESCAC play.
Ferrer, McDonnell and senior tri-captain T.J. Jackson (Haverford, PA) each had a hat trick for Amherst, while sophomore Matt Kellman (Wilton, CT) was phenomenal on face-offs, winning 17 overall. Junior Matt Pietroforte (Brooklyn, NY) made 9 saves in the loss for Amherst.
Middlebury was paced by Petty's six goals and an assist, while a trio of teammates scored a pair of goals. Britt ended the day with 13 saves in the cage for the Panthers.
Amherst returns to action on Wednesday evening for a road game at Wesleyan. The Little Three matchup is set to start at 4:30 p.m.
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