ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Junior Kevin Stump scored with 58 seconds left in the second overtime period Wednesday to lift the No. 5 Williams College men's lacrosse team to a 12-11 win over No. 1 R.I.T. on the Tiger's Turf Field in a NCAA Div. III Tournament quarterfinal match-up.

 

The Ephs improved to 18-3 and will play rival Amherst in a national semifinal game Sunday in Williamstown at a time to be announced.

 

"It's pretty exciting," Ephs head coach George McCormack said "I really want to give credit to our defense,  I felt like we sputtered a bit on offense in the first half. I thought our defense was asked to do a lot, they faced a lot of possessions and did a great job of communicating and staying together. And our big guys got going in the end; Stump and Hoffman and Hincks. It was an incredible team effort, I'm just so proud of the guys."

 

Stump's third goal of the game capped a furious Williams rally over the final 6 minutes and 24 seconds of the game. Trailing 11-8, Stump scored off an assist from Jake Haase with 6:24 to go to make it an 11-8. Down 11-9, Jared Strauss made a great run at the goal and slipped a shot past Tiger keeper Walker Hare with 1:36 remaining to make it a one-goal game. With 57 seconds left in the game, after a Williams timeout, junior Brendan Hoffman broke down his defender to the right, and fired a shot past Hare to tie the game 11-all.

 

RIT had a chance late in regulation, but Gahagan came up with a big stop. Both teams had their chances in the first overtime, but both defenses kept the other team off the scoreboard. Williams had two good chances early in the second overtime, but Hare came up with two big saves.

 

Hincks and Stump each scored three goals for Williams, while Hoffman tallied two goals. Harry Gahagan picked up the win in net for the Ephs, making 13 saves.

 

The game was a back-and-forth affair as one might expect. The Ephs defense was exceptional early the game, shutting out RIT over the 15 minutes. Hincks had the only goal of the first quarter to give Williams a 1-0 lead. But the Tigers opened the second quarter with three straight goals to take a 3-1 lead on a goal by Shawn Nally and two from Dawson Tait. Just 2:31 before halftime, Haase fed Tim Saffold, who fired a shot past Hare. RIT held that 3-2 lead at halftime.