LEWISTON, Maine -- The Bates men's soccer team held the lead at halftime but visiting Middlebury scored four goals in the second half to defeat the Bobcats by a final score of 4-1 on Saturday at Russell Street Field.
Bates (7-5-2, 2-5-2) struggled offensively as they only tallied three shots in the match. But in just the third minute of action senior Noah Riskind found the back of the net on a header for the first goal of his career on an assist from David Murphy.
The Panthers (11-2-1, 6-2-1) had a clear height advantage over the Bobcats entering the match but Bates held them scoreless on nine shots in the first half. In the second half that height advantage began to take hold as Greg Conrad scored in the 60th minute to even the match at one on an assist by Adam Glaser. Less than a minute after the game-tying goal, Tim Ogle scored unassisted to put the Panthers up 2-1.
Conrad scored again in the 78th minute on a beautiful cross from Glaser and Daniel O'Grady capped the scoring with an unassisted goal in the 85th minute.
Bates keeper Sam Polito made six saves in the match while Greg Sydor did not make any saves as the only Bates shot on goal in the match was Riskind's goal in the first half.
The Bobcats conclude their 2015 regular season on Wednesday as they visit Colby at 8:00.
