Courtesy of Bowdoin College Sports Information
BRUNSWICK, Maine - Goaltender Sean Dougherty made 35 saves, including 16 in the final period, to lead the Williams College men’s ice hockey team to a 4-2 win over Trinity in the NESCAC Semifinals hosted at Bowdoin’s Sidney J. Watson Arena on Saturday afternoon.
The Ephs (17-6-3) advance to Sunday’s NESCAC Championship game against the winner of Saturday’s second semifinal game between Middlebury and Bowdoin. Williams will be looking for its first NESCAC Championship. The Bantams finish their season with a record of 15-7-3.
Trinity broke through first, as a flurry of action in the Williams defensive zone saw the puck come to the stick of Charlie Mullan in the left corner. Mullan fed Tim Shea in the slot, who rapped it home at 7:07 of the opening period.
The Bantams carried their lead into the second period where Williams wasted little time knotting the score. Cody Skinner carried the puck on the left wing and fed Mike Brofft in front, who wristed a top-shelf goal blocker-side at 1:16 of the stanza. Seven minutes later, the Ephs grabbed the lead on the power play as Nick Anderson fed Craig Kitto, who was sitting just off the crease. Kitto knocked home the pass at 8:27 to give Williams their first lead of the afternoon.
Williams extended its lead just over four minutes into the third period as Eric Rubinso carried the puck down the left side of the rink, drove towards the net and slipped the puck between the pads of Trinity goaltender Ben Coulthard at 4:14.
Trinity closed the gap minutes later as Michael Hawkrigg carried the puck down ice, beating his defender and ripping a hard shot off the cross bar. The puck deflected to the right to the waiting stick of Jackson Brewer, who knocked home the rebound at 6:54 to make it 3-2.
Dougherty made 16 saves in the final period, including several sprawling stops, and Paul Steinig put home an empty-netter with 38 seconds remaining to seal the win for the Ephs.
Dougherty made 35 stops in the victory while Coulthard finished with 31 in the loss for Trinity. The Bantams went 0-2 on the power play while the Ephs went 1-3.
