A barrage of Williams offense kick-started a strong second-quarter performance by the Ephs; this proved too much to handle and helped Williams secure their first home victory of the season over visiting Colby College. The Ephs (3-0 / 2-0 NESCAC) downed the Mules (1-2 / 0-2) 19-5 in their second NESCAC game of the season to extend their unbeaten start to the season. The game began with strong defense from both sides. A Williams' man-up possession started with a stop from Colby, but Chris Burdick quickly regained possession and allowed Jared Strauss to open the scoring off an assist from Jake Haase to put the Ephs up 1-0. Shortly after, Spencer Goodbar ran the ball right through the middle of the defense andfired the ball into the back of the net to double the lead for the Ephs. CJ Hassan scored a long shot off an assist from Mason Brady to put the Mules on the board. Kevin Stump then responded by scoring off an assist from Tomas Bono to restore the two-goal lead. After a relentless attacking possession from Williams, Spencer Goodbar fed John Hincks, running onto the goal, for the last goal of the quarter. A Colby interference started a man-up situation for the Ephs as the first quarter came to a close, but the score remained Williams 4 - Colby 1. Starting the second quarter and still a man-up, the Ephs scored 15 seconds in courtesy of Kevin Stump. After strong defensive stands from Colby and Williams, Jared Strauss euro-stepped right through the heart of the Colby defense to grab his second tally of the afternoon. Before long, the Goodbar-Hincks connection struck again to produce its second goal of the day. CJ Hassan doubled his tally on the afternoon off another long shot from the right side of the goal. A nice passing sequence between Michael Greenberg and Rock Stewart ended in Greenberg throwing to a jumping Kevin Stump who scored midair to get his second of the day. A few minutes later, Kevin Stump came around the left side of the net and scored from ten yards out to complete his hat trick. The Williams defense held strong as Brian Greenstein stripped the ball off a Colby attackman and passed to Jake Haase who set up John Hincks to fake a shot before tossing the ball behind his back and into the net. Despite some man-up situations, the second quarter ended relatively quietly. The first half ended 10 - 2 Williams. John Hincks got his fourth of the day at the 12:12 mark in the third quarter. Another beautiful passing sequence from the Williams offense ended with Kevin Stump slotting the ball into the goal. A scorching hot Williams offense struck twice more as Cory Lund scored and Jake Haase threw a fake shot before sliding the ball right into the goal. Jack Rickards scored while falling onto his back to get Colby's first goal of the second half. The Williams offense remained persistent, but Colby Goalkeeper Matt Rocha was able to keep the Ephs at bay. After a stop by Harry Gahagan, Michael Greenberg ran the ball from the half-circle to the 25-yard line before laying it off to Jake Haase who faked a pass, then gave the ball back to Greenberg to finish the play he started. Cory Lund completed his hat trick with just ten seconds remaining in the third quarter. Williams 16 - Colby 3. The fourth quarter remained scoreless for over seven minutes as both defenses were able to break down the other's offense possession after possession. The deadlock was broken after Williams won back possession and Jack Sercu sprinted from the Williams thirty-five yard line all the way to the goal before slotting one right into the top corner to get his first of the season. Another Eph notched his first goal of the season as Owen Roegge proved to be too much for the Colby defense to handle. CJ Hassan quickly got one back for Colby to finish his hat trick. The Colby streak continued with a goal from Jack Rickards. Thomas Bono ripped a shot that glided across the ground and right through the goalie's legs for the final score of the contest. The game score ended at 19-5, Williams. Williams used two goalkeepers today with Harry Gahagan saving ten shots for a .769 save percentage and Will Bock saving five for a .714 save percentage. Colby also used two goalies. Matt Rocha made twelve saves and Bill Chizmar made none. Kevin Stump paced the Ephs with five goals while John Hincks recorded his second straight four-goal game and Cory Lund registered his third straight hat trick. Jake Haase led the team with three assists. Alex Kitt and Ian Depetrio combined to win twelve of twenty-seven faceoffs and the Ephs picked up 42 ground balls to the Mules' 32. Freshman Spencer Goodbar, who had a prolific first half highlighted by a goal and a pair of assists, spoke about his first home game and the win saying, "It's the best way to come out; protect the turf against a NESCAC team. Offense played well, defense shut 'em out. It's a good home win and [we] look forward to continuing this." Speaking after the game, Eph head coach Geroge McCormack said, "Every NESCAC game is super competitive, we don't take any of them lightly...anytime we get a conference win we feel really fortunate. I thought the defense really stood out today, especially our d-middies and LSMs...Then offensively, I thought we were very unselfish with the ball. I thought we shared the ball really well and a lot of different guys got on the field to play." When speaking to the fact that a lot of different players got game time today and the overall energy of the bench, McCormack commented, "I thought it was great. We're trying to create an atmosphere where guys are just great teammates and it doesn't matter who's on the field; everybody is cheering for everybody." The Ephs look towards another home game against RPI at 6:00 p.m on Wednesday. Colby hosts their next match, a NESCAC game against Wesleyan, at 1:00 p.m on Saturday.