LEWISTON, Maine — The No. 20 Bates College men's lacrosse team exploded out of the gate Sunday afternoon and never looked back, rolling to a 17-6 non-conference victory over previously unbeaten Wheaton College at Garcelon Field.
The Bobcats improve to 6-0, marking the program's best start since the 2017 squad opened the season 14-0, while Wheaton falls to 5-1.
Bates seized control almost immediately, scoring seven goals in the opening quarter to build a commanding early lead.
Henry McCann opened the scoring just 47 seconds into the contest, and
Gray Doyle followed nine seconds later to quickly push the Bobcats ahead 2-0. Goals from
Jack Goldbach,
Riley McClure,
Liam Rule and Doyle continued the surge before Goldbach capped the run with his second tally of the frame, giving Bates a 7-0 advantage after one.
The Bobcats continued the momentum in the second quarter.
Jack Morrison,
George Angelopoulos,
Charles Lowe and McClure all found the back of the net as Bates stretched the lead to 11-0 before Wheaton got on the board late in the half on a man-up strike from Charlie Goodrich.
Rule added another score with 10 seconds remaining before halftime to send Bates into the break with a 12-1 lead.
Wheaton produced a brief push early in the third quarter with consecutive goals from Lucas Mehlhorn and Theo Stamatel to trim the margin, but Bates quickly answered. Rule completed his hat trick midway through the frame off a feed from and Doyle added his third goal late in the quarter to make it 14-5 entering the fourth.
Bates tacked on three more scores in the final quarter, including first collegiate tallies from
Owen Iles,
Morgan Ruppenstein and
Kevin Burke, to close out the 17-6 victory. 11 different Bobcats scored in the win.
Bates controlled the game statistically as well, outshooting Wheaton 77-22, winning 20 of 27 faceoffs, and collecting 55 ground balls.
Andrew Toland (6-0) earned the win in goal for the Bobcats, making two saves in the opening quarter before Bates rotated goalkeepers throughout the remainder of the contest.
Bates will now sit idle until Saturday when the Bobcats return to NESCAC play with a 12 p.m. road contest at Amherst.
