The Panthers improved their record to 9-2 on the year with another close league win (6-2 in NESCAC) on Saturday against the Trinity Bantams. It turned out to be a beautiful April day up here in VT and we had a nice crowd on hand for it and I hear there was some great tailgating going on during pregame, it was a great environment for a game!

For those of you that haven't seen us play online or in person over the past few weeks, we've made a few changes that have allowed us to create more transition opportunities each game and our guys are doing a really nice job with it thus far. With some of the most athletic poles in the league, we've given them the green light to run the field and stay in on offense and it's created some great opportunities for us over the past few weeks. We can still improve some of our decision making and shot selection but it's a fun style to play and to watch!

We came out flying on Saturday and jumped out to a 6-1 lead at the end of the first and then 8-1 before Trinity went on a run of their own, to cut it to 8-6 at halftime. Senior Mike Giordano was awarded the game ball after a 6 point effort (3g,3a) as he was the one who got us going with a hand in five of those first eight goals. Trinity is the latest team to turn to a zone defense as they began implementing the zone last weekend against Bowdoin and Colby, winning both, so we weren't surprised to see it on Saturday. We made a few adjustments to our looks against the zone during the week and our guys did a really nice job of implementing those changes against the Bantams. We created excellent opportunities from start to finish as we took 57 shots and Trinity's goalie ended up having to make 20 saves. Our shooting and finishing isn't where we need it to be but it's getting better, we'll continue to improve in that area as we hit the home stretch.

Brian Foster had another monster game at the face off x (I refuse to call it the stripe), he ended the day going 22 for 29 and finished the game with what I believe is a career high, 12 gbs. As a team we out ground balled the Bants, 43-20.

Clearly it wasn't our best day defensively when we dominate ground balls and face offs the way we did and it still ends up being a two goal game. Our guys are capable of doing what we're asking them to do on defense, we need to start executing our fundamentals consistently and getting stops. If we can get our defense playing the way they were in the beginning of the year and continue to have our offense click, watch out, I think we have the ability to be a dangerous team in May.

Finally, (as Coach Brakeley correctly pointed out after the game on Saturday) with another 4 goals on the day, Jon Broome now leads the NESCAC in scoring. He actually leads in both points and goals for NESCAC only games, what a season Jon is having in his rookie year.

Next up we have the Skidmore Thoroughbreds down in Saratoga tomorrow afternoon. Last time we traveled down 87 it was a game and a trip I'll never forget. The game itself was one of the best games I've been a part of as both teams had excellent chances in overtime before we got the game winner in 2OT's from Mike Giordano. The other memorable part of the experience was our bus driver, Ernesto, who joined us on the sideline all game becoming a huge lacrosse fan in the process and jumping in on the celebration on the field after the game. Skidmore is having a tough year record wise but they have a lot of talent on offense and a number of guys who can fill up the back of the net. We'll need a great effort to bring home the bacon tomorrow. Wish us luck!