NESCAC Tournament Round 1
Bowdoin 14, Bates 10
at Brunswick, Maine

BOWDOIN MEN ELIMINATE BATES
FROM NESCAC TOURNEY, 14-10

BRUNSWICK, Maine — The Bowdoin College men's lacrosse team got nine points from senior captain Hunter Walter and held off a furious fourth-quarter charge from Bates in a 14-10 First-Round NESCAC Tournament win on Sunday afternoon. The Polar Bears (11-3) advance to play in the NESCAC Semifinals next Saturday at Middlebury, Vt. where they will face arch-rival Colby College. The Bobcats end their season with a 8-7 mark.

The Bobcats struck first in the matchup between the in-state rivals as senior midfielder Patrick Gaughan (Duxbury, Mass.) picked up a loose ball at midfield and fired a high shot from 10-yards to give Bates a 1-0 lead at 13:41. Bowdoin tied the game at 10:57 when Walter delivered a pass from behind the net to teammate Phil Stern, who scooped a shot inside the post to knot the contest at one. The Polar Bears grabbed the lead at 9:30 of the first when Micah Moreau broke into the box alone and fired a shot that deflected off a Bobcat and into the cage for a 2-1 Bowdoin lead. Gaughan tied the score at two as he found the back of the net with a shot while falling forward to tie the score at two.

That would be the last tie of the game as Bowdoin rolled off five consecutive goals to take a 7-2 lead. The run started late in the first when Walter scored on a one-timer to regain the lead for Bowdoin. After netminder P.J. Prest made two spectacular saves on a Bates man-up opportunity late in the quarter, Walter scored again to open the second. Walter assisted on a goal by Jed Englund at 10:40 of the second before scoring two goals in a row to give the Polar Bears a 7-2 advantage. Bates stopped the run at 6:28 when a defensive misplay by Bowdoin led to a 3-on-1 breakaway for the Bobcats, with rookie Peter Friedman (Putney, Vt.) scoring in front. Moreau added a goal before the half to make it 8-3 Bowdoin at intermission.

Both teams scored three times in the third as the game entered the fourth quarter with Bowdoin leading 11-6. Bates opened the fourth quarter with senior Dave Frederick (W. Hartford, Conn.) beating Prest five-hole to cut the lead to 11-7 at 13:35. After winning the face-off, Bates held a nearly two-minute possession, taking five shots before capping it off with a goal at 11:10 by Frederick to cut it to 11-8. Just two minutes later, the Bobcats struck again when senior attack Jack Sandler (Hicksville, N.Y.) netted a goal to cut the lead to 11-9 with nine minutes left to play. But the Bobcats would get no closer as three straight Polar Bear goals by Adam Fleit, Stern and Josh Allen put the contest away.

Prest made 16 saves for Bowdoin, while Bates junior keeper Mark Dobbyn (Warren, R.I.) made 10 stops for the Bobcats. Frederick led Bates with three goals and one assist on the day, while Hunter Walter ended with four goals and five assists for Bowdoin.

(Taken from a Bowdoin College press release)

Team                        1  2  3  4    F                      
Bates (8-7)                 2  1  3  4 - 10
Bowdoin (11-3)              3  5  3  3 - 14


GOALS
BAT: Dave Frederick 3, Jack Sandler 2, Patrick Gaughan 2,
Jeff Critchlow, Matt Winterle, Peter Friedman.
BOW: Hunter Walter 4, Micah Moreau 2, Josh Allen 2,
Adam Fleit 2, Phil Stern 2, Jed Englund, McKay.
ASSISTS
BAT: Sandler 2, Critchlow 2, Frederick, Gaughan, Winterle.
BOW: Walter 5, Moureau, Allen, Fleit, Englund, Courtiss.

GOALTENDING
BAT: Mark Dobbyn, 60 Min, 10 SV, 14 GA. 
BOW: P.J. Prest, 60 Min, 16 SV, 10 GA.

TEAM STATS
Shots: BAT, 41-35.
Extra-man offense: BAT, 0-4. BOW, 1-2.