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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Ephs End Men’s Lax’s Disappointing Season

The Middlebury men’s lacrosse team suffered a 13-9 loss to Williams in the quarterfinal round of the NESCAC tournament on Saturday, April 26. The loss to Williams was the second loss to the Ephs in four days for the Panthers, with the first coming on April 23 by a tight score of 9-7.

With their early exit from the conference tournament, Middlebury sees their season draw to a disappointing close.

In the first half of the game, Middlebury scored only one goal, which came from sophomore Tim Giarrusso ’16. In contrast to Middlebury’s lone goal, Williams compiled six goals during the first half. The Panthers were able to find shots in the half – matching Williams’ 11 shots by halftime – but struggled to score on Williams goalkeeper Dan Whittam, who recorded five saves in the opening period.

To start out the third quarter, Middlebury got a boost from sophomores Jack Cleary ’16 and Jack Rautiola ’16, who both found the net to cut the Williams lead to three. The Ephs were able to answer, however, beating Panther goalkeeper Nate Gaudio ’14 for two goals of their own.

Middlebury’s goal came in succession, a trend that has continued throughout their season. Even though they were able to put together a few runs that included multiple goals, the Panthers were not as effective in their ability to get the ball in the goal.

The fourth quarter saw both team hitting their stride on the offensive end. Panther Jon Broome ’16 scored a man-up goal to trim the deficit to 9-5 before Williams responded with a pair of goals that stretched the lead back out to six. Chase Clymer ’15, Broome and Giarrusso put together a three-goal run for Middlebury in the game’s closing minutes, but it was too little too late for the Panthers, who fell by a final score of 13-9.

“We played hard but not particularly well against Williams on Saturday at either end of the field,” said head coach Dave Campbell. “I certainly want to give a lot of credit to Williams for playing a great game as well.”

Middlebury was unable to win the game despite a significant advantage on face-offs throughout the game, as specialist Harrison Goodkind ’16 won 16 of the 20 face-offs he participated in. The Panthers also picked up five more ground balls than the Ephs, and – though they were outshot by a slight margin – simply failed to take advantage of the scoring opportunities that they had throughout the game. The Ephs played a cleaner game in terms of turnovers, with 15 to Middlebury’s 21.

While Gaudio held the Ephs at bay by recording eight saves, his Eph counterpart Whittam played to another level, stopping over half of Middlebury’s shots on goal.

With the loss, the Panthers finish their season with an 8-8 overall mark that includes a 6-4 record in conference play. The early exit from postseason play stings a bit more harshly for Middlebury given their disappointing finish to the 2013 season, in which they tied for first in conference regular-season play only to see an upset loss to Wesleyan in the NESCAC semifinals keep them out of the NCAA tournament.

“I’m very pleased with how our team progressed over the course of the season,” said Campbell. “It was certainly disappointing to have it end the way it did on Saturday, but I don’t want to lose sight of just how far we came since March.”

The Panthers have now failed to qualify for the national tournament during each of the past three seasons, a considerable shortcoming for a program that captured three consecutive national championships from 2000 to 2002.

There are thirteen seniors on the Middlebury team who will be graduating this year. The loss of Gaudio leaves a significant hole for the Panthers to fill given his tremendous success minding the net for much of the past three seasons. In addition, midfielder Stephen Seymour ’14 will be missed given the rapid development of his game over the course of this season.  Other seniors who have seen significant playing time this season include midfielders Chris Peterson ’14 and Brian Ayers ’14, and defenders Geoff Vrla ’14 and Darric White ’14.

If their 2015 campaign will see the team return to the heights that they aspire to, the Panthers will rely heavily upon offensive stalwarts Jack Rautiola ’16 and Jon Broome ’16. Broome – last year’s NESCAC rookie of the year – has drawn the attention of opposing defenses all season and will merit consideration for the all-conference team.


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