BRUNSWICK, Maine -- With four goals and one assist apiece by sophomores Charlie Fay and Andrew Melvin, the Bates men's lacrosse team triumphed over rival Bowdoin by a 15-8 score at Ryan Field on Wednesday evening, the Bobcats' first win over the Polar Bears since 2012 and their first at Ryan Field since the 2005 NESCAC tournament.

The Bobcats improve to 5-4 (2-4 NESCAC) with the win, while the Polar Bears sink to 1-8 (1-5 NESCAC). 

Fay (Falmouth, Maine) and Melvin (Medfield, Mass.) led the way for Bates, scoring four goals apiece and both adding an assist in the victory. Fay tied his career high set in Bates' last game, and now has 10 goals in his three games since returning from injury. Melvin's four goals are also a career-best.

Senior Jack Strain (Montclair, N.J.) also had a pair of goals, as did junior Jack Allard (Ridgewood, N.J.) for the Bobcats. Bowdoin was paced by two goals from Peter Reuter while David Nemirov and Matthew Crowell had a goal and an assist apiece. 

The Bobcats jumped out of the gate quickly, using a 5-0 run to take a 6-1 lead over the Polar Bears just 8:57 into the contest. Bates scored four unanswered goals in a span over under two minutes, starting with Fay's goal from the first of two assists senior Conor Henrie (Lexington, Mass.), with 7:58 to go in the first quarter. Senior Tucker White (Burlington, Vt.) won the ensuing faceoff, gathering the ground ball and charging up the field before dishing to Strain for a 3-1 lead, just 10 seconds after Fay's score.

Fay scored again at the 7:00 mark, assisted by Melvin, and Melvin tallied at 6:03 from junior Charlie Hildebrand (Berwyn, Pa.) to open up a 5-1 lead. Fay added his third goal of the opening quarter with seven seconds to go on an Allard feed for a 6-2 lead. 

Sophomore Kyle Weber (Chagrin Falls, Ohio), Fay and and sophomore Scott Baber (Pound Ridge, N.Y.) all scored as the Bobcats extended their lead to 9-3. Then a 3-0 Bowdoin run, capped by a Nemirov score, closed the gap to 9-6 late in the period. But the Bobcats were able to push the lead back to four goals at halftime, 10-6, thanks to another goal from Melvin just 30 seconds before the break. 

The Bobcat defense held Bowdoin scoreless for the first 23:02 of the second half and Bates continued pulling away, scoring twice in the third quarter and notching the first two goals of the final period to build a 14-6 advantage en route to the 15-8 victory. 

Junior Joe Faria (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.) made eight saves in net for Bates while junior Ken O'Friel (Scarsdale, N.Y.) had two caused turnovers and four ground balls to pace the Bates defense. White won 9 of 14 faceoffs and sophomore Sam Francis (Newburyport, Mass.) won 8 of 13, combining to win 17 of 27 face-offs for Bates.

For Bowdoin, Peter Mumford made 10 saves. 

Bates will travel to play at Connecticut College at 1pm on Saturday.