WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. –- The Bates men's lacrosse team rebounded nicely but ultimately could not overcome a 5-0 first-quarter lead seized by No. 12 nationally ranked Williams College, falling 11-5 to the Ephs in NESCAC action Saturday afternoon at Farley-Lamb Field.
The Bobcats (3-3, 1-3 NESCAC) were led by junior Jack Allard (Ridgewood, N.J.) with three goals on the afternoon. Sophomore Andrew Melvin (Medfield, Mass.) and senior Jack Strain (Montclair, N.J.) each added tallies for Bates.
Williams (6-0, 4-0 NESCAC) opened up the scoring in the first quarter with goals from five different Ephs. At 13:43 Bryson Gilbert-Bono notched the first goal of the game off a pass from Tanner MacIvor. Gilbert-Bono then assisted on an Andy Grabowski goal to make it 2-0 at 11:59. Jack Lauroesch scored an unassisted tally at 8:14. Steven Kiesel scored off a feed from Chris McLaughlin (6:22) and Thomas Fowler closed out the first quarter with an unassisted goal with just three seconds remaining.
Bates' first goal came at 13:37 of the second quarter when Melvin was setup on a pass from junior Charlie Hildebrand (Berwyn, Pa.). Grabowski answered for the Ephs with an unassisted score at 10:13 and that ended the scoring in the first half, leaving Williams with a 6-1 lead at the break.
The Bobcats scored two goals in the third quarter, the first on an unassisted tally from Allard, and the second when sophomore Jake Walsh (Baltimore, Md.) found Strain for the score. Allard scored the last two goals for Bates in the fourth quarter to close out the scoring for Bates.
Bobcat goalkeeper Joe Faria (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.) recorded 15 saves on the afternoon, as Williams outshot Bates 42-35 and won 12 of 20 faceoffs.
The Bobcats return to action on March 25th in non-conference action when they travel to Keene State for a 5:00 p.m. matchup.
