Jon Leanos '12 scored with 32.3 seconds left in the third sudden-victory overtime period to lift Hamilton College to a 9-8 win against Williams College in a NESCAC game at Williams' Renzie Chapman Field on April 17.
Hamilton (7-5 overall, 4-5 NESCAC) is in eighth place in the conference standings with one NESCAC game remaining. The top eight teams advance to the NESCAC championship, which begins on Saturday, April 28, with the quarterfinals.
The Continentals host nationally ranked Trinity College on Saturday, April 21. Trinity (8-4, 6-2) lost 12-8 to Wesleyan on Tuesday, but still occupies second place in the NESCAC standings.
Leanos finished with two goals, as did Bryan Hopper '14 and Luke Walsh '13. Luke Sadoff '12, Pax Anthos '14 and Henry Burchenal '12 scored one goal each. Connor Morgan '15 was credited with two assists.
Mike Fiacco '13 led the defense with three caused turnovers. Hopper, Ed Reed '13 and Matt Hill '13 picked up three ground balls each. Max Vaickus '12 made 10 saves, including two in overtime.
Evan Dedominicis paced the Ephs' offense with two goals and one assist. Andy Grabowski scored two goals and Sam Hargrove passed out two assists. Peter Sullivan, Tucker Dayton, Colton Growney and Tim Goggins notched one goal each. David Lee collected a game-high seven ground balls and Sean Dougherty made 13 saves.
On the game-winning goal, Leanos started behind the net. He carried the ball out around the crease, ran past his pick and shot across his body.
Leanos also scored the first goal with 7:18 left in the first period, but Williams tied the score a little more than a minute later. Dedominicis' goal, which was assisted by Hargrove, was followed shortly by one by Sullivan at 5:25. Hopper scored a mere 23 seconds later, sending a high, outside shot on Dougherty. The ball bounced just under Dougherty's stick to tie the score 2-2. Each team scored once more before the end of the quarter.
Hamilton started the second quarter with a man-up goal. The Continentals worked the ball around the periphery before Morgan hit a streaking Burchenal for the 4-3 lead just 19 seconds into the quarter.
Dayton and Growney helped reclaim the lead for the Ephs. Growney picked up the ball on his side of the midfield line, carried it in and beat his defender to gain the inside. A huge, wind-up shot led to the Ephs' fifth goal. Hamilton's Walsh scored his second goal of the night with 6:05 left in the quarter, and the teams went into the break tied at 5.
Williams (3-8, 1-7) won the opening face-off in the third quarter and carried the ball into its offensive end, where they sustained pressure for the first five minutes of the quarter. Fiacco stole the ball and ran it out of his defensive end to return control to the Continentals.
Solid Eph defense led to a turnover and a goal by Grabowski with 6:23 left. Anthos, on an assist from Morgan, capitalized on a man-up situation to tie the score at 6-6 about three minutes later. Hamilton reclaimed the lead near the end of the quarter. Chad Berger '14 ran the ball out of his defensive end and passed it to Leanos, who hit Sadoff. Sadoff ripped a shot to score with less than a second left.
Goggins scored from Mericos Rhodes to tie the score 7-7 early in the fourth quarter. An interference penalty gave Williams an opportunity to take the lead, and a goal by Grabowski with 10:22 left in the quarter did just that. A little more than five minutes later, Hopper received the ball and his high-flying shot found the back of the net to tie the score for the eighth time.
Hamilton enjoyed a 43-27 shot advantage, including 7-3 in the three overtime periods. Williams won 12 of 21 faceoffs.
