The Middlebury men's lacrosse team (0-1, 0-1) put together a late rally on Saturday afternoon at Bowdoin, but the Polar Bears (1-0, 1-0) hung on for the 13-12 victory at Whittier Field. The Panthers return to action next Saturday when they host Connecticut College for the home opener at 1:00 p.m.
 
A frantic first half saw the teams combine for 15 goals, including five apiece in the second quarter. Russell Thorndike got the Panthers going with a pair of early scores, while Donal Mullane scored two early goals for the Polar Bears. Mullane's third goal of the half, off a feed from faceoff specialist Ethan Barnard, with 2:07 remaining in the second frame, gave the Polar Bears a slim 8-7 lead at intermission.
 
Three-straight scores to open the third stanza pushed Bowdoin's lead to 11-7 following Zach Chandler's tally at 6:48 of the period. The Polar Bears maintained a four-goal lead (13-9) with under five minutes to play in the fourth quarter, before the Panthers tallied three times in the final 4:11 of the contest, including a pair by Jack Sheehan. Barnard won the final faceoff of the game for Bowdoin with 28 seconds remaining, and the Polar Bears managed to run out the clock for the one-goal win.
 
Middlebury was led by five goals from Sheehan, William Ryan tacked on three scores, while Thorndike added a pair. Billy Curtis finished with a goal and two helpers. Finn O'Connor recorded 18 saves in goal for the Panthers.
 
Patrick Fitzgerald led Bowdoin with four goals, while Mullane had three goals and two assists. Chandler finished with three goals and an assist, while Barnard was 21-of-26 in faceoffs. Robert Hobbs made 10 saves in goal, while AJ Bravo had three groundballs and two caused turnovers
 
Bowdoin owned a 49-36 advantage in shots and posted a 36-13 advantage in ground balls.