LEWISTON, Maine - The Trinity College men's lacrosse team defeated Bates College to capture their first win of the season. Bantam junior William Puccio (Garden City, N.Y.) netted four goals to lift the Bantams over the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) rival Bobcats, 13-6, on the road. The Bantams move to 1-1 overall and in theNESCAC and the Bates Bobcats fall to 0-4 overall and 0-2 in the league.  The Bantams play their next contest when they host Roger Williams University on Wednesday.

The Bantams struck early at 14:10 of the first quarter when Puccio scored from classmate Andrew Fearey (Duxbury, Mass.). Trinity added am unassisted goal by junior Ryan Werner (Weston, Conn.) before Bates tied the game at 2-2 on goals from Walter Braun and Jackson Sell. Trinity netted two more unassisted tallies by Werner and senior Jack Cahill (Medfield, Mass.), taking a 4-2 lead into the second quarter. Bates closed the gap to  one in the second quarter during a man-up opportunity, but the Bantams responded with a three-goal run to extend their lead to 7-3. Junior Cullen Wolf (Maplewood, N.J.) assisted Puccio and senior John Stookey (Middletown, R.I) on two goals and Fearey tallied the third. Bates added one by Jake Johnson before Trinity extended its lead again. Senior attackman Connor McCulloch (Alexandria, Va.) was assisted by Tyler DeSimone (St. James, N.Y.) on a man-up play followed by another Wolff-to-Puccio combination that created a 9-4 lead heading into the half.

The Bantams came out strong in the second half as well. At 12:07 in the third, Fearey assisted Cahill for his second of the contest. The Bantams added two more in the third with Werner finding McCulloch and a Cahill feeding Puccio for his fourth of the contest. Entering the fourth quarter, the Bantams were up eight but Wolff got on the board to extend the lead to 13-4. Bates tallied two more goals in the fourth quarter before the final horn sounded.  Trinity outshot Bates by a margin of 47-35 and the teams split face-off wins, 11-11. Defensively, the Bantams were led by senior Chris Larsen (Rocky River, Ohio) who caused two turnovers, while Dan Crowley (Pelham, N.Y.) and Ethan Tym (New Rochelle, N.Y.) picked up four ground balls apiece. Sophomore goalie Cooper Yaccino (Kenilworth, Ill.) recorded 11 saves.