MIDDLETOWN, Conn. -- Wesleyan junior Russ Follansbee netted his third goal of the game and 18th of the season from in tight on the left after receiving a pass from sophomore Lonny Blumenthal, tucking in the game-winning goal with 1:10 left, breaking an 8-8 tie with visiting Amherst (6-5, 1-4) and propelling Wesleyan (6-3, 4-1) to its 11th straight win over the Lord Jeffs, 9-8. It took a brilliant save by Wesleyan junior goalie Mike Borrero to preserve the win in the closing seconds, however. Having defeated its Little Three rival in each game this century, Wesleyan has captured six of the 11 games by a lone goal.

For the third straight NESCAC home game, Wesleyan had to recover from early trouble as Amherst stormed out to a 4-1 lead after one period thanks to two goals from NESCAC top goal-getter sophomore Tom McDonnell and a goal and an assist from junior Brett Miller. Miller finished the game with six points (1-5-6) while McDonnell finished his hat trick at 10:19 of the fourth quarter with his 31st goal of the season. It tied the game at the time, 8-8.

In previous home games, Wesleyan trailed Bowdoin, 4-1, and Conn. College, 3-1, before pulling away for comfortable margins of victory. Amherst did not allow that to happen. The Lord Jeffs maintained their edge into halftime, leading 5-3. But the Cardinals controlled the third quarter with senior Grayson Connors doing the damage. After he had become just the sixth Wesleyan player in history to score 100 career goals in the opening minute of the second quarter, Connors fashioned a natural hat trick in a span of just 2:43 with his extra-man goal at the 7:12 mark of the third stanza giving Wesleyan its first lead since midway through the first period, 6-5.

Amherst came back to tie on the 28th goal of the season by senior T.J. Jackson at 4:06 but Follansbee put Wesleyan ahead before the end of the period, making it 7-6. A goal by Wesleyan junior Jason Ben-Eliyahu at 14:20 of the fourth period gave the Cardinals their largest lead of the contest at 8-6. Amherst responded with goals by sophomore T.J. Milone and McDonnell to even the count at eight apiece heading into the final 10 minutes.

At the point, Amherst goalie junior Matt Pietroforte kept up his outstanding play, as he posted half of his 16 saves for the game in the final period.But Follansbee was left unmarked to the left of the goal as Blumenthal drew the attention of the defense to the right side with his isolation move, and Follansbee had little to do but fake out Pietroforte down low for the game-winner at the 1:10 mark. The opportunity was set up by the sixth ground ball of the game by Wesleyan junior defender Spike Malangone, who intercepted a centering pass by Amherst with about two minutes remaining, and the Cardinals called timeout in the Amherst zone 10 second later to set up the final thrust.

After Wesleyan won the faceoff following Follansbee go-ahead goal, a great defensive play by Amherst junior Chris Fitzpatrick to knock the ball off a Wesleyan stick and out of bounds gave Amherst another possession. After working the ball around for about 15 seconds, Amherst got Milone open in front of the Wesleyan goal and his point-blank shot was squeezed by Borrero for his ninth save of the game, and Wesleyan ran off the final few seconds to end the game.

Wesleyan will host NESCAC foe Colby Saturday while Amherst has a date at home with Williams to complete Little Three play for the season. Wesleyan is 1-1 in the Little Three while Williams is 1-0, having defeated Wesleyan 10-7 April 5, and Amherst is 0-1.

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2008-04-09