First up we had a tough away contest in Clinton last Wednesday against a fired up Hamilton squad.  After taking an early 4-1 lead, they came roaring back to tie it up at 4 heading into halftime with all of the momentum on their side.  The response from our group was to reel off 5 straight goals to start the 2nd half and to eventually take an 11-5 lead early in the 4th.  Tim Giarrusso finished with four goals while fellow seniors Sean Carroll and Jack Rautiola added two apiece.  I have come to expect this group to be at their best when they are faced with a challenge, we still need to work on how we handle success.

Next up, we had the #6 ranked Bates Bobcats in town over the weekend.  As anyone in the stands on Saturday can attest, Bates has a very talented squad with a few difference makers at attack.  For this one we came out flying and John Jackson dominated at the x from start to finish, going 23 out of 30 for the day.  Our defense caused a few early turnovers which allowed us to get an easy one in transition and to keep the ball for most of the first quarter.  We took a 4-1 lead after the first and 9-3 at halftime.  Bates would make it interesting in the 2nd half with a few three goal runs to cut our lead to 11-8 at one point and then 14-11 late in the game but our guys made enough plays to earn the W.  Our seniors had a big day with 17 of our 24 points.  Sean Carroll contributed 4 goals, Tim Giarrusso had 3, Jack Rautiola had a goal and 3 assists, and Kyle Soroka came up with two huge goals as well.  The game ball went to senior defenseman Dylan Fowler who had a hand in a few turnovers on the defensive end and made a play that sent the bench and stands into a frenzy during the 2nd quarter.  He was breaking up field for an over the shoulder catch in the clearing game and was thrown a "buddy pass" by a teammate.  It looked like he was about to take a big hit from the Bates long stick midfielder who checked into the game at 6-2, 215.  Instead, Dylan caught the pass and in two steps ended up being the one who delivered the blow by lowering his shoulder and decleating the Bates LSM en route to a clear for us.  It was a fantastic team win and as they all are, a big NESCAC win.

We had a tremendous turnout for alumni weekend this year, what a great group of guys.  A few special shout outs to Billy O, Pete Steinle, Tom O'Connor, Bob Wannop, Pete Mellen, Pete Britt, Matt Ferrer (alumni game MVP), and Mike Stone for making it up!  We also had a bunch of recent alums up from 2012–2015 and hope to post our alumni game pics soon once we get our hands on them.  

Big one tomorrow down in Springfield, MA.  As always, Springfield has some talented players up and down their roster and will be excited for this one.  Game time is 5pm.