Hartford, Conn. – The Trinity College men's lacrosse team fell to visiting Bates, 11-9, in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) action on Saturday afternoon at Jessee/Miller Field. With the loss, the Bantams move to 1-4 overall and 0-3 in league play, while the Bobcats won their second straight to improve 3-2 on the year and 1-2 in conference tilts.

Bates erased a one-goal third quarter deficit with four unanswered goals to take a lead they would not surrender. Coming out of halftime, Trinity took a 7-6 lead as sophomore Stefan Pappas (Millstone, N.J.) converted a feed from junior Seth Bird (Concord, Mass.) for his third tally of the season just over minute into play. The Bobcats responded with four straight markers, highlighted by a pair of goals from sophomore Kyle Weber, over the next 11 minutes to take a 10-7 advantage. The Bantams stopped the Bates run with under a minute left in the stanza as sophomore defenseman Henry Pierandri (Ridgefield, Conn.) took a long clearing pass from senior co-captain Charles Finnegan (Duxbury, Mass.) and fired a shot that beat Bobcats netminder Joe Faria for his first collegiate tally.

Just under four and a half minutes into the final frame, Bates stretched its lead back to three at 11-8 as junior Jack Allard netted his fifth marker of the contest with senior defenseman Connor Ceniglia recording an assist. The hosts pulled to within two with just under five and a half minutes remaining in the game as senior James O'Connell (Middleton, Mass.) scored his second goal of the game off a feed from Bird.

Down the stretch, neither team was able to break through as Trinity failed to convert a pair of man-up opportunities. The Bobcats avenged a one-goal loss to the Bantams last season to earn their first NESCAC victory of the spring.

Allard led the offensive charge for the visitors with five goals, while Weber and sophomore Andrew Melvin each added a pair of tallies apiece. Senior midfielder Conor Henrie and junior attackman Charlie Hildebrand each netted first-half goals for Bates. On the defensive side of the ball, six different Bobcats caused two turnovers, while first-year midfielder Burke Smith and junior defenseman Colby Spehler each scooped four groundballs apiece.

O'Connell paced the Bantam attack with two goals and an assist for a season-high three points, while Bird added one tally and a pair of helpers. Eight different players scored for Trinity in the game as Pappas and junior Ryan DeSimone (Saint James, N.Y.) recorded multi-point games with one marker and assist each. Defensively, first-year Brian Crowe (Cranbury, N.J.) caused a team-high two turnovers and had five groundballs. First-year face-off specialist JP Masaryk (Stratford, Conn.) continued his strong play, winning 16-of-24 face-offs and scooping a game-high 11 groundballs.

Between the pipes, Joe Faria made nine saves to earn his third victory of the season for Bates. On the opposite end, junior Mickey Zaverucha (Duxbury, Mass.) turned aside 18 shots in a losing effort for Trinity.

The Bobcats held a 46-38 advantage in shots and went 18-of-23 on clears. The Bantams committed 31 turnovers compared to 21 by Bates and went 19-of-27 on clear attempts. Trinity was 0-for-2 with the extra man and Bates converted their only man-up opportunity.

In the first half, Trinity opened scoring with the first two goals of the contest and Bates answered with a two-goal spurt of its own as the contest was knotted at two after 15 minutes. Nine second into the second quarter, Bates took their first lead of the game as Hildebrand created a turnover and beat Zaverucha with a shot. To close out the opening 30 minutes, the teams traded runs and entered the break tied at six.

Trinity returns to action on Tuesday, Mar. 17, with a midweek neutral site clash versus Babson at Johns Hopkins.