The 11th-ranked Middlebury men's lacrosse team erased an early two-goal deficit, responding with nine-consecutive goals and never looking back to ease past Bates 14-4 on Saturday in Maine. The Panthers improved to 6-0 overall and 4-0 in NESCAC play, marking the first time since 2013 the squad has started a season with six wins.  
 
HIGHLIGHTS

• The Bobcats took a quick 2-0 lead on a goal from Malcolm Klingbeil with 13:10 left and a player-up tally just 1:26 later by Connor Hartman.
• The Panthers answered with the next three goals spanning 1:27 of action. Player-up scores by William Ryan on the right post and a wraparound tally from Will Zink gave the visitors a 3-2 advantage with 6:49 left in the first quarter.
• Bobby Hendry pushed the Middlebury lead to 4-2 with 2:10 remaining, bouncing a shot from 10 yards out that found space in the top-right corner.
• The Panthers recorded the game's four goals during the second quarter with Russell Thorndike accounting for three of them. Highlighting the trio of goals for Thorndike was an underhanded shot with 7:27 left for an 8-2 halftime lead.
• Middlebury scored 4:44 into the third quarter when a shot by Jake Peluso just trickled over the goal line after being partially blocked for a 9-2 edge.
• The Bobcats pulled to within six (9-3) when Jacob Kodjababian scored an impressive marker from 65 yards away.
• With Bates serving a non-releasable penalty, Middlebury scored three times with the extra player. Jack Sheehan rifled a shot from 15 yards at the end of the third, while Thorndike posted his fourth and fifth goals of the game in the first 56 seconds of the final quarter for a 12-3 edge.
• The Bobcats tallied 41 seconds later on Hartman's second goal of the game.
• Middlebury's Tom Conley recorded his second goal of the contest, faking a pass before finding nylon from the left channel with 6:16 expired in the fourth quarter.
• Tyler Forbes capped the scoring in the contest with 4:06 remaining for the final 14-4 tally.

NOTES

• Thorndike has scored at least one goal in each game this year, while his five markers today were a career high. Billy Curtis equaled his career best with five ground balls, while Henry Tarr posted a career-record three caused turnovers.
• Middlebury won 14-20 faceoffs in the triumph, as Garrett Hawthorne claimed seven (7-11) and William Munroe garnered six (6-8). 
• The two programs played for the 36th time with the Panthers owning a 33-3 advantage.

Middlebury returns to competition with a non-conference home game on Tuesday against Springfield starting at 4:00 p.m.