WELLESLEY, Mass. – Sophomore defenseman Jack McCool's power play goal at 11:09 of the second period was the difference in keeping Williams College (3-0-0) undefeated and knocking Babson (7-1-1) from the ranks of the undefeated Saturday afternoon as Williams prevailed 3-2. 

 

The loss by Babson was its first home setback in November since 2012, snapping their November unbeaten skein at 27 (25-0-2).

 

Williams now leads the all-time series versus the Beavers 24-19-3.

 

"I thought we played well today, all four lines," Williams head coach Bill Kangas said. "We had a good jump in our step and we played fast and moved the puck quickly because we had good pace in our game.

 

"We also had good line changes and for the second game in a row we only had one penalty, which means we played with discipline."

 

Williams took a 3-1 lead into the second intermission, but Babson struck just 52 seconds into the third period to make things exciting and things really got exciting in the final minutes. 

 

Babson's Ryan Black tallied the lone goal of the third period 52 seconds in when he scored in close with assists awarded to Matt Wiesner and Patrick Flynn, cutting the Eph lead to 3-2.

 

Both teams had a few quality chances in the early part of the third period, but things really heated up in the final 2:22 when Babson elected to pull their goalie and add a skater. With just more than a minute remaining in the period a Williams clear was headed to the empty net when Babson's Brendan Casey had to race back and shovel the puck away from the net with his hand.

 

Thirty seconds later another Eph clear was on its way towards the goal and this one was not going to be stopped by a Babson player. The puck, however, hit the outside of the left post and caromed to the boards.

 

With 11.9 seconds left the Ephs' Roberto Cellini faced off against the Beavers' Matt Wiesner in the circle to the left of Eph goalie Michael Pinios. Cellini controlled the faceoff and sent it back to his left to the boards and while players from both teams battled for control the clock ran out giving Williams the 3-2 victory.

 

Williams got on the scoreboard first when Tyler Scott banged home the rebound of a shot by Nick Van Belle at 3:11 in the first period.

 

Matt Wiesner tied it for Babson at 10:04 on a re-direct with Cole Sanderson and Patrick Flynn getting assists.

 

The Ephs re-gained the lead at 11:40 when Peter Christie beat Babson goalie Matt Pompa from the blue line with a wrister off a feed from Tyler Scott.

 

The Ephs took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission. 

 

Eph net minder Michael Pinois made seven saves in the first 20 minutes while Babson's Pompa stopped 13 of 15 shots by the Ephs.

 

Both teams committed one penalty in the period, but all three goals in the period were even strength tallies

 

The second period was all Williams as the Ephs out shot the Beavers 16-5 and added to their lead at 11:09 when Jack McCool made the Beavers pay for giving the Ephs a man-up opportunity. McCool blasted a slap shot from 5 yards inside the blue line past Pompa establishing a two-goal Eph lead, 3-1. McCool's laser was setup by a pass from Max Fuld.

 

On the day Michael Pinios turned aside 20 shots by Babson and the Beavers' Matt Pompa was called on to make 36 saves.

 

"This was a good road win, but we will have to be ready for another tough game tomorrow with Geneseo," stated Kangas.

 

Next up for the Ephs is their home opener Sunday afternoon in Lansing Chapman Rink at 3 p.m. when they will take on the Geneseo Knights, who are ranked fourth in the USCHO.com national poll. Geneseo is 7-1-1 after toping Amherst 4-1 Saturday afternoon in Amherst.