Strong Second Half Propels Williams Past MIT, 12-7

Courtesy of Charlie Lengal

THE BASICS:

- Score: Williams College 12, MIT 7

- Records: MIT (4-3); Williams (4-3)

- Location: Colorado Springs, Colo. (Washburn Field)

- The Lead: Williams College outscored MIT, 8-1, in the second half to come from behind and capture a 12-7 non-conference men's lacrosse victory on Wednesday at Colorado College. For the fourth game in a row, senior Graham Davis (Crofton, Md.) paced the Engineers with four goals.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

- Freshman Mark Heatzig (Boca Raton, Fla.) connected on a feed from junior Jacob Stein (Vienna, Va.) shortly after the opening faceoff while Davis gave MIT a 2-0 lead at the 12:25 mark. Williams got on the board three minutes later but Davis gave the Engineers some breathing room with 4:38 on the clock. The Ephs won the ensuing faceoff and found the back of the net in a span of 27 seconds, closing the gap to 3-2.

- The score remained unchanged until Williams recorded a man-up goal at the 8:32 mark of the second quarter. Sophomore Jonathan Monahemi (Great Neck, N.Y.) quickly found freshman Gavin Vandenberg (Elmhurst, Ill.), however, the Ephs tied the score at four with just under seven minutes remaining. MIT replied with back-to-back tallies in the next two minutes to enter halftime with a 6-4 edge. Heatzig earned his second point of the day when he set up freshman Nicolas Gianni (Henderson, Nev.) for his 10^th goal of the season while Davis redirected a pass from sophomore Jack Strachan (Moresville, N.C.) for a man-up goal.

- Williams cut its deficit in half early in the third quarter but Davis increased the Engineers' cushion to 7-5 with 10:27 on the clock. Exactly 65 seconds later the Ephs registered the first of three straight goals, going ahead with 1:01 left in the frame. Williams carried the momentum into the fourth quarter where it tacked on four more goals.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

- Freshman Luke Gianni (Henderson, Nev.) won seven of his 10 faceoff attempts and picked up five groundballs while sophomores Robert DeLaus (Andover, Mass.) and Dylan Marlborough (Cutchogue, N.Y.) both contributed three groundballs. Senior David Klee (East Greenbush, N.Y.) and sophomore Adam Gumbardo (Babylon, N.Y.) both generated a pair of caused turnovers as junior Alexander Lynch (Roswell, Ga.) collected nine saves.

- MIT had a slight edge in faceoff wins (13-11), was 12-of-16 in clears, and converted one of its five extra-man opportunities.

- Williams finished with advantages in shots (34-32) and groundballs (26-24). The Ephs were 15-of-18 in clears and 2-of-4 in extra-man opportunities.

- This was the first meeting between both programs since 1971, which was won by Williams (12-5).

UP NEXT:

- MIT will open up NEWMAC play on Saturday, March 31 when it visits Wheaton College for a 4:00 p.m. start.