Captain Seeley's 'Seven' Sparks Amherst Shelling

Author: Nick Ferrer

The men's lacrosse team continues to tear through its NESCAC competition like a lion eating its young. On Saturday, the top ranked Panthers improved their conference record to a perfect 3-0 (7-0 overall) with a decisive victory over the Lord Jeffs of Amherst College.

Playing on their home turf with a thunderous home crowd to support them, the Panthers came out firing in the first quarter and then never looked back. Captain Dave Seeley '02 single-handedly quadrupled the Lord Jeffs' first quarter performance as he erupted for four early strikes. At the quarter's end, the Panthers sat comfortably with an almost unexpected 9-1 lead.

In the second quarter, the Lord Jeffs scrambled relentlessly to gain some momentum but were turned back time and time again by Middlebury's dominating defensive unit and sophomore Eric Krieger's daunting presence in goal. Although the Jeffs succeeded in tallying thrice during the quarter, they only sank deeper into a hole of no return as Middlebury's offense continued to dictate the game's pace. With picture perfect passing and textbook off-the-ball movement, the Panthers had no trouble in energizing their loyal fans. Panther "Superfan" Kyle Silk '03, who claims he hasn't missed a game since his first year and asserted that were it not for the Ice Capades tickets he scored on his birthday his attendance would be perfect, described the game as "one of the prettiest things I've seen in a while."

With a 14-4 halftime lead, Middlebury was poised to cruise to victory. It was not until 2:33 in the third quarter that the Jeffs were able to string together consecutive goals, and even then, they knew there was little they could do to improve their position. Thanks to hat tricks by Mike Frissora '03 and Greg Carroll '02, four points from senior midfielder Matt Dunn, and a career-high seven-goal performance from Seeley (he also recorded one assist), the Panthers built a lead that would prove nearly impossible to relinquish.

The lead also afforded Middlebury the opportunity to give its young guns valuable experience against a worthy opponent. First-year goalies Ned Courtmanche and Matt Levy combined for five second-half saves, and helped keep the Lord Jeffs at bay. And, despite excellent goaltending in the part of the Jeffs, 11 different Panthers etched their names in the scorebook. "It was great to see everyone get involved, but it was even better to see them play as well as they did against a team as good as Amherst," said Carroll.

The Lord Jeffs last cry would be heard at the end of the third quarter when they managed to tally four times in just two minutes and close the gap to within 10. Minutes later Middlebury scored again en route to taking complete control of the final quarter and sailing to a 20-10 victory.

Sill undefeated, the top-ranked Panthers now look ahead to their busiest week yet. On Wednesday, the team will host an up-and-coming squad from Tufts. Two days later, they will travel to Maine to face NESCAC rivals Bowdoin and Colby. Both the Polar Bears and White Mules are enjoying stellar seasons and both are ranked in the top 20 in the nation — making a road trip to the great North anything but a weekend drive.