Middlebury beat
Amherst 16-4 on Saturday, April 8 under sunny 70 degree
skies! Hard to believe now that we have a bunch of
snow sitting on the
ground with more
in the forecast!
Amherst was
actually up 1-0 after the 1st Quarter, due mostly to excellent
goaltending by the
Amherst goalie who is very good. We
needed a game in
which we did not
blow the team out early, so this was just what the doctor
ordered. Things picked up a little in the 2nd when we
outscored them 4-0 to
take a 4-1
halftime lead. The 3rd Quarter was all
Middlebury as we
outscored them 8-2
to blow the game open.
The attack again
led us in scoring with Holt Hopkins getting 6, Dave Seeley
3 and Zach Herbert
2. The balance on our attack can create
some difficult
match ups for
opponents.
The midfield
scoring was scattered, but there play was more than solid. The
key to our
midfield play is that they expend tons of energy denying their
man the ball since
our long sticks are so good. They are
also doing a great
job breaking
upfield and starting fast breaks and slow breaks which has
created easier
opportunities for our attack.
The long sticks
were great on Saturday. Jed Raymond was
taking the ball
away all day, Nick
Lesher is a sophomore long stick middie who is playing
great, and Sebby
Astrada is another sophomore who won the game ball for
playing great D,
picking up lots of ground balls and pushing the ball
upfield. The other long sticks are Ben Fritz (a
senior captain who has
played
consistently well and also scored his second goal of the season vs.
Amherst), Brian
Nickel a junior, and B.L. Reid a junior long stick
midfielder. These guys give us 6 man depth that allows
us to play up-tempo,
pressure defense.
I have not
mentioned our goalie, Dave Campbell, very often this year. It is
a case of taking a
great player for granted. He has been
outstanding and
played well again
on Saturday. Other than being a great
"stopper", he gets
us going with
amazing outlet passes to start our fast breaks. He has always
been a great
outlet goalie, our middies are finally catching up to his level
and getting open
for him.
Next up is
UVM. Who knows how, when and where we
will play this one!
Vermont has a foot
of snow and we are scheduled to play Wednesday.
Unfortunately, our
women play home Wednesday, so we cannot simply switch the
game down
here. We are exploring other
dates. I will keep you informed.
We play Bowdoin
Saturday at Bowdoin at 1:00. Other than
us, they are the
top NESCAC team
this year, so it should be a classic Middlebury/Bowdoin
battle!
Erin