Williams 2010

2009 Recap: The beginning of 2009 boded very poorly for the Ephs, who dropped to 1-5 on five close losses to five very good teams. Then, in a serious case of "deja vu all over again," Williams mounted a furious run to the NESCAC tournament, punctuating the end of the regular season with defining wins over Bowdoin and Wesleyan before falling to Middlebury in the regular season finale in a reasonably close game. It seemed that for a second year in a row that this squad was peaking at just the right time. They even drew a favorable first round opponent in Wesleyan, who they had recently dispatched with relative ease 9-5. Alas, the Cardinals came out and exacted swift retribution in an 11-5 thumping that ended the Ephs' season on a sour note.

2010 Trend: Downward (Which is an understatement)

What's hot: They return a talented offensive midfielder in Matt Cranshaw who provided a strong complement to David Hawley last year and have some young attackmen like Sam Hargrove who contributed in supporting roles as freshmen. Second team all-NESCAC defenseman Andrew D'Ambrosio returns as well. Anddddddd....that's about it.

What's not: Gerbush? Graduated. Morrissey? Graduated. Hawley? Transferred. Williams isn't Middlebury in terms of roster depth. They can't just reload and replace three of the NESCAC's best (although Hawley was slightly overvalued by many) with the next iteration of recruits. Gerbush was a stud in cage (1st team all-NESCAC) and Morrissey was a freak athlete capable of completely dominating any game with his play on the wing, in transition and on the defensive end. Even Hawley, who struggled at times last year, was so instrumental to the Williams offense that any game plan for defending the Purple Cows centered on keeping the ball out of his stick lest he launch one of his signature 20 yard lasers past your goalie. Cranshaw is going to have to shoulder an extremely heavy load this year and it is definitely up in the air as to whether or not he is capable of doing it without other teams being forced to worry about Hawley first, second and third. Williams will be lucky to finish above 9th, and I fully expect them to make a play for the number one pick in the 2010 draft...wait...there's no reward for finishing in last? Crap, the Ephs are screwed.

What we should be talking about: How underrated of a color combo purple and yellow is, especially when paired with black; the 2011 season; Whether or not David Hawley will even get significant minutes at Brown; The fact that Williams is probably a better school than Brown by a smidge; How screwed the Ephs are; Who is going to be unfortunate enough to play goalie for this team because he's gonna see a lot of rubber