AMHERST, Mass. – Down two at the half, the seventh-seeded Williams College men’s lacrosse team outscored second-seeded Amherst, 7-4 in the second half to stun the hosts, 11-10, and advance to the NESCAC semifinals next Saturday at Tufts.

 

The win was the third in a row for the Ephs (10-6) and their second straight over a nationally ranked opponent. The Ephs topped No. 5 Middlebury in their final NESCAC regular season contest and then upset No. 6 Amherst on Saturday.

 

"We're becoming a more complete team,” Williams coach George McCormack said. “We've been effective on offense and defense and were winning faceoffs and handling special situations well."

 

Tanner MacIvor scored the game-winner with 2:06 remaining after Amherst had netted three unanswered goals to tie the contest at 10. MacIvor's shot from 11 yards out to the left of Amherst goalie Thomas Gilligan went through Gilligan's legs on a bounce and into the net.

 

The Ephs’ Brian Bissell won 17 of 25 faceoffs (68 percent). The Ephs had a slight edge in ground balls, collecting 38 to 35 for Amherst.

 

Michael Fahey, Thomas Fowler and Peter Crane all scored three times for Williams and Fahey had a team high two assists.

 

WOMEN’S LACROSSE

HARTFORD, Conn. – Trinity College defeated Williams College by a score of 18-4 in Saturday's NESCAC Quarterfinal matchup.

 

The Ephs (5-11) matched the Bantams (14-2) goal-for-goal in the first 14 minutes. The Ephs saw impressive goals from seniors Alyssa Maddalone and tri-captain Anne Rehfuss, with another goal by junior Jenna Chodos. 

 

Trinity ran away with the ball in the remainder of the first half, scoring several goals in the last 12 minutes of the half. 

 

SOFTBALL

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.  -- Six Williams seniors were feted on Senior Day Saturday, and they celebrated by delivering many key hits. 

 

But there were several other heroes as well, including freshman Mackenzie Murphy, who hit a lead-off, walk-off solo home run in the bottom of the ninth in the first game to give Williams a 3-2 win and the NESCAC West Division title in the first game of a doubleheader sweep of Middlebury. 

 

The Ephs (29-8, 10-2) beat the Panthers, 3-2 and 11-3. Williams will host the 2016 NESCAC Tournament beginning Friday.

 

"All of our seniors have given us such great leadership, our team karma comes from them, they are the reason we can continue to come back" Ephs' head coach Kris Herman said. "At the same time, we have a really good team 1 through 19 and i thought we showed that today; everybody contributed to these wins."

 

The Ephs needed to win one game Saturday to win the West.

 

BASEBALL

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- The Williams College baseball team went into Saturday with the possibility of reaching the NESCAC playoffs with two wins today sweeping Hamilton in the series.

 

The Ephs split with Hamilton, winning game one, 3-0, but falling to the Continentals, 8-1 in game two. The Ephs moved to 12-18 overall and 6-6 in the NESCAC and Hamilton moved to 15-14 overall and 4-8 in the NESCAC.

 

With the loss in game two the Ephs were eliminated from NESCAC playoff contention.

 

WOMEN’S TENNIS

BOSTON -- The Williams College women’s tennis team ended its season on a high note with a two-match sweep of Babson College and Tufts University on Saturday.

 

Williams (16-3, 6-1 NESCAC) blanked the Beavers 9-0, before defeating the Jumbos 7-2.

 

Babson was coming off a 7-2 loss to Brandeis University, while No. 17 Tufts was riding an upset victory over No. 6 Bowdoin College. Bowdoin is responsible for the one in-conference loss the Ephs suffered this season.