The Middlebury men's lacrosse team suffered a 14-9 road loss at Bates (8-4, 5-4) on Saturday afternoon. The sixth-ranked Panthers fall to 10-3 with the loss, 6-2 in NESCAC play. Middlebury returns to action next Saturday when it hosts Trinity at 2:00 p.m. The win over the Panthers was the first for the Bobcats in 28 meetings. Earlier this week, Bates knocked off top-ranked Tufts, 12-8.

Bates' Charlie Fay scored four first-half goals and Kyle Weber tallied three unanswered goals in the third quarter to start a decisive 6-0 run. Andrew Melvin had three goals and three assists to pace the Bobcats, who won their fourth-straight NESCAC game. Jack Strain scored twice, while Conor Henrie added a goal and an assist. Jake Walsh contributed one goal and two assists.

Jon Broome led Middlebury with three goals, while Tim Giarrusso added two. Joey Zelkowitz and Cal Williams had five ground balls apiece and John Jackson won 10 of 20 face-offs with six ground balls. Will Ernst made eight saves in 42 minutes, while Gabe Weissmann made three stops and allowed one goal in 18 minutes of action.

Fay scored the last of his three second-quarter goals with 5:26 to go as the Bobcats held a 6-3 lead at the half. Bates then outscored Middlebury 7-2 in the third quarter, including a 6-0 run that gave them a game-high nine-goal lead at 13-4, with 3:07 to go in the third.

Middlebury outscored Bates 4-1 in the fourth quarter to close the final gap to 14-9.

Joe Faria had nine saves in net for Bates, as the Bobcats outshot the Panthers 44-35. Middlebury committed 23 turnovers to Bates' 15.