Williamstown, MA- The men's hockey team fell at NESCAC rival Williams, 7-0, Friday night. With the loss the Jeffs drop to 4-10-5 overall and 4-6-4 in conference play. Ben Fash and Matt Starkey combined for the first shutout of the year for the Ephs. Williams (11-5-2) is now unbeaten in its last five games, winning four over that stretch.

The Ephs were boosted by its special teams, which cashed in on two power plays and added a short-handed goal. Cotuno and Andrew Beasley were particularly sharp on the power play, as they took advantage of a hole in the Amherst defense. In the second period already leading 3-0, Beasley's cross-ice pass found a wide-open Cotuno whose wrister found the top left corner of the net.

Early in the third, Cotuno made the exact same pass to Beasley (one goal, two assists), who beat goalie Justin Jagher with a vicious slap shot. "We've been working on the umbrella set a lot in practice," said Cotuno. "We were talking on the bench about how the cross-ice pass was wide open and luckily it worked." Despite the high scoring affair, nothing earned a louder ovation from the crowd than when Starkey entered the game with 3:42 left. The Ephs fans, who had been chanting for Starkey since the ten minute mark of the third, rose to their feet for a standing ovation. "It was pretty awesome," said Starkey, who made one save to preserve the shutout for Fash. "I especially wanted to keep it scoreless because this was Ben's first shutout."

Josh Truitt opened the scoring late in the first as his sharp-angled shot from the left of the net somehow skipped over the stick of goalie Jaffrie Perrotti. With seconds left in the first, the Lord Jeffs gambled on a power play by crashing the net. The Ephs took advantage, as Truitt picked up a loose puck and led a two-on-one break with Fox. Fox took a pretty feed and beat Perrotti with a backhander to put Williams up 2-0. Bill Gilchrist scored his first goal of the year in the second. Chip Canner and Alex Garceau added third period goals to cap the scoring. A gorgeous centering pass from Brian Teixeira set up Canner's fifth goal of the year. Canner later found Garceau all alone on a breakaway, and the senior nearly undressed Jagher with a beautiful deke move.

Amherst returns to action Saturday at 3 p.m. at NESCAC foe Middlebury College.