The Middlebury men's lacrosse team dropped a 13-9 road decision to 10th-ranked Union on Tuesday at Frank Bailey Field at Bertagna-Class of 1985 Stadium. The Dutchmen (6-0) outscored the Panthers 8-2 over a span of 29:26 from the second to fourth quarters in the victory. Middlebury (2-3) returns to action on Saturday when it hosts Bates in a NESCAC contest starting at 1:00 p.m.
 
Trailing 3-1 just over nine minutes into the first quarter, Tom Conley started a three-goal run for the visitors with a bouncing shot with 1:13 left. Back-to-back scores from Tyler Forbes just 1:04 apart early in the second stanza gave Middlebury a 4-3 lead with 12:28 remaining before halftime. 
 
Union rattled off the next six goals of the contest, taking a 9-4 advantage on a goal from Hayden Frey at the 9:44 mark of the third quarter. Conley broke up the Dutchmen run 37 seconds later on an assist from Forbes, before Union's Keaton McCann tallied on a helper from Frey nearly four minutes later. Billy Curtis sliced the deficit to 10-6 on a man-up score with 3:26 remaining in the stanza. 
 
Union posted three of the first four goals in the final quarter, grabbing its largest lead of the contest (13-7) on a tally from Jake Titus at the 7:15 mark. A goal by Middlebury's Will Zink and the initial score of Jake Peluso's career as a Panther provided the final 13-9 score.
 
Conley paced the Middlebury attack with a career-high four goals to go along with an assist, while Forbes added two goals and a helper. Luke Simpson picked up a team-best four groundballs for the Panthers. Finn O'Connor collected 14 saves in front of the Middlebury net. 
 
Frey led the Dutchmen with four goals and three assists, while McCann scored three times and Kieran McGovern added two goals and a pair of assists. Matt Belluche caused four turnovers, while four different Union players tallied four groundballs apiece. Dan Donahue saved 15 shots to earn the victory in the Dutchmen goal.