LEWISTON, Maine -- The No. 14 nationally ranked Bates College men's lacrosse team shrugged off an 11-day gap since its last game and defeated rival Colby 22-10 on Wednesday at Garcelon Field, to finish the regular season on a five-game winning streak, all against New England Small College Athletic Conference opponents. 

It is the most goals Bates has ever scored in a NESCAC game, and the Bobcats' largest-ever margin of victory in a conference game since the NESCAC became a playing conference in 2001.

Bates (9-4, 6-4 NESCAC) finishes the regular season in a tie for fourth place in the NESCAC with Wesleyan (9-6, 6-4). By virtue of the Cardinals' win over Bates on March 7, Wesleyan earns the No. 4 seed in Saturday's NESCAC quarterfinals and will host fifth-seeded Bates in Middletown, Conn., on Saturday at 1pm. 

Colby (8-6, 4-6 NESCAC) will be the eighth seed in the NESCAC Championship, and will play at top-seeded Amherst on Saturday.

Bates entered the game as the second-rated defense in the NESCAC behind Amherst, but it was a fearsome Bobcat attack that most stood out on Wednesday. Bates senior Jack Strain (Montclair, N.J.) tied his career high with six goals to go with one assist and three ground balls in his final home game. Sophomore Charlie Fay (Falmouth, Maine) scored four goals, including three in the first half, to go with one assist. Junior Jack Allard (Ridgewood, N.J.; 3 goals, 2 assists), sophomore Andrew Melvin (Medfield, Mass; 3,0), sophomore Jake Walsh (Baltimore, Md.; 0,4), senior Conor Henrie (Lexington, Mass.; 2,0), first-year Clarke Jones (Pepper Pike, Ohio; 2,0) and sophomore Kyle Weber (Chagrin Falls, Ohio; 0,2) also contributed multiple points.

Sophomore Sam Francis (Newburyport, Mass.) won 23 of 31 faceoffs for Bates and was credited with 12 ground balls. In goal, junior Joe Faria (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.) made 18 saves for Bates, as Colby had a 44-43 edge in shot attempts (Bates led Colby 31-29 in shots on goal).

Derek Youngman led Colby scorers with three goals and an assist. Austin Sayre contributed two goals and one assist, while Sam Wasserman and Mark Philipps added two goals apiece. Tyler Will made nine saves for the Mules.

Colby took leads of 2-0 and 3-1 in the opening 5:15 of the game, with all three goals coming off of Bates turnovers. Sayre scored the game's opening goal after a Bates turnover in its defensive zone two minutes into the game, and Sayre made it 3-1 with a second unassisted tally with 9:45 left in the quarter.

Bates scored three straight goals in a 65-second span to assume a 4-3 lead. Walsh found senior Reed Lewallen (Portland, Ore.) on a well-timed pass, completed by a lunging shot for the goal. First-year Burke Smith (Wilton, Conn.) found Strain 22 seconds later with a cross-zone pass that Strain finished with a shot while leaping away from the Colby goal. At the 7:38 mark, Allard found a cutting Fay open for an entry pass, good for Bates' first lead. 

Philipps backed down a Bates defender and bullied his way in for a game-tying score with 2:50 to go in the first quarter. But with 37 seconds to go in the period, Fay snuck a low shot past Will for a 5-4 lead.

Colby opened the second quarter with back-to-back goals to retake the lead. Kevin Seiler intercepted a clearing pass by Faria and scored an unassisted tally, and the Mules then converted the game's first extra-man opportunity when Youngman scored from Brendan McNeill with 12:12 to go. 

Fay answered again for Bates less than a minute later, maneuvering through the Colby defense for an unassisted tally to tie the game at 6-6. After the Bates defense weathered three consecutive shots by the Mules, the Bobcats cleared and Jones scored his first collegiate goal, for a 7-6 Bates lead that the Bobcats did not relinquish. With 7:38 to go, after a penalty flag had dropped on Colby, Bates senior Evan Chen (Katonah, N.Y.) bounced a shot in while falling down. Bates won the ensuing faceoff with an extra-man opportunity, and Weber, working from behind the Colby goal, found Allard cutting down the middle to make it 9-6. Bates finished the game 4-for-4 on man-up chances.

Youngman cut it to 9-7 before halftime, but the period ended, remarkably, with Colby taking 24 shots to Bates' five, yet getting outscored 4-3 in the period.

The Bobcats scored four unanswered goals in the first five minutes of the third quarter to open up a 13-7 lead. Strain was responsible for three of those scores, including a man-up tally from Walsh with 10:25 to go in the period. Colby made one final push, getting back-to-back goals from Philipps and Youngman at the 6:31 and 6:09 marks, but Strain's fourth goal of the quarter slowed the Mules' momentum and gave Bates a 14-9 lead heading into the fourth quarter. 

Henrie scored back-to-back goals to start the fourth, and the Bobcats went on to outscore the Mules 8-1 in the period.

At 6-4, the Bobcats finish with their most conference wins (the league expanded to 11 teams and 10 conference games per team when Hamilton joined as a full member in 2012). It is the first season since 2007 that the Bobcats have defeated both CBB (Colby-Bates-Bowdoin) rivals. Bates has also tied the 2005 and 2006 teams for the most victories by the Bobcats in head coach Peter Lasagna's 14 seasons.

Wednesday's contest marked the second annual Flahive-McDuffee Memorial Game in honor of Derrik Flahive (Colby) and Morgan McDuffee (Bates). Flahive died in a drowning accident in 2011; McDuffee was killed while breaking up a fight in Lewiston in 2002. Colby head coach Jack Sandler '02 played with McDuffee at Bates, under Lasagna.