Co-captain Craig Blake '08 sparked the Bates offense with one goal and three assists.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- The Bates College men's lacrosse team led as late as the third quarter but ultimately lost at NESCAC rival Williams College 12-7 on Saturday at Renzie Lamb Field.

Bates senior Craig Blake (Ballston Lake, N.Y.) scored once and assisted on three other goals for the Bobcats (2-6, 1-3 NESCAC), while seniors Mike Medeiros (Concord, Mass.) and Brent Morin (Hanover, N.H.) scored two goals apiece. Williams first-years David Hawley, Tommy Murray and Eric Muller all scored for the Ephs (2-3, 1-3 NESCAC).

 

Hawley netted the first two Eph tallies off of feeds from Murray after Bates junior Tyler Moore (North Andover, Mass.) put the Bobcats up 1-0 at 14:06 on an assist by Blake. Andrew Roberto netted the final Eph tally of the opening session at 6:52 with Dixon Hargrove getting credit for the assist and lifting the Ephs to a 3-1 lead.

 

Medeiros netted Bates' second goal at 5:43 when he converted off a pass from senior Justin Simon (Canaan, N.H.) and the first 15-minute session ended with the Ephs up one.

 

The Bobcats scored the only goal of the second quarter when senior Bryan Frates (Woodstock, Vt.) scored at 11:11 with Blake notching the assist.

 

At the end of 30 minutes Bates held a slight advantage in shots 9-7 and the Ephs were held to just a single shot in the second quarter. Bates fired off 11 shots in the third quarter alone, while the Ephs upped their shots in the third quarter to four. However, all four of the Eph shots found the back of the net and Williams took a 7-5 lead at the end of three quarters.

 

The Ephs' Michael Gerbush made three saves in the third quarter as six of the Bobcats' attempts went wide.

 

Morin put Bates up 4-3 when he notched an unassisted tally at 14:13 of the third quarter, giving the Bobcats three unanswered scores.

 

Tommy Murray then triggered a three-goal spree by the Ephs when he scored off a pass from Michael Lewen at 12:01, followed by unassisted tallied by Muller and Hawley. Hawley's score came when the Ephs were a man down.

 

Blake again stemmed the tide of Eph goals at 5:08 of the quarter when he scored unassisted.

 

Bryan Wrapp gave the Ephs a two-goal lead (7-5) at the end of the quarter, when he scored an unassisted tally coming around the back of the goal and circling in from the right side to score at 0:50.

 

Murray and Hargrove extended the Eph lead to 9-5 with Hawley assisting Murray and Brian Morrissey setting up Hargrove.

 

Medeiros then netted the Bobcats' final goal at 9:41 on a solo effort.

 

The Medeiros goal was met with another Eph three-goal barrage with Richard Reuter scoring a man-up goal assisted by Murray; Michael Lewen and Murray teaming up on a textbook give and go and give with White scoring and then David Hawley closed out the scoring in the game with his fourth goal at 2:32 when he scored an unassisted goal.

 

"Our team really showed up to play in the second half and that was good to see, because Bates is a good team and they gave us all we could handle in the first half," said Williams head coach George McCormack.

 

One of the keys in the Ephs win was the play of first year Corey Jacobs in face-offs. Jacobs won 15 of 22 face-offs on the day.

 

Bates senior goalie Will Paddock (Denver, Colo.) made eight saves on the day, while the Ephs' Gerbush made nine saves.

 

Hawley led the Ephs with four goals and Murray added two goals and three assists. Bates was led by Blake, who scored two goals and assisted on two, and Medeiros, who scored two goals.

 

With the win the Ephs improved to 2-3 on the year and 1-3 in NESCAC and Bates is now 2-6 overall and 1-3 in NESCAC.

 

Next up for the Bobcats is a NESCAC game at Colby on Wednesday, April 2 at 7 p.m.

BOX SCORE: Williams 12, Bates 7