The #17 Middlebury men's lacrosse team took its first lead of Saturday's contest with 4:08 remaining and made key defensive stands late to earn a wild 13-12 win over #18 Bates from Youngman Field at Alumni Stadium.

HIGHLIGHTS

• The Bobcats opened the scoring with 4:11 gone in the opening quarter. As a player-up chance expired, Xander Frey plucked the left panel to grab the lead.
• Charles Lowe gave Bates a 2-0 edge at the 9:02 mark, tucking a rebound bid following a save from Panther goalie Hayden Kern inside the right post.
• Will Leahy (8:54) and Logan White (6:06) sandwiched the visitors' third tally to cut the margin to 3-2. Isolated at the top, White dodged and freed just enough space to wind up a left-handed look that rustled the upper-right corner.
• Gray Doyle and Jack Goldbach each found nylon 37 seconds apart in the final three minutes of the frame, giving the guests a 5-2 lead after 15 minutes.
• With 12:08 to play in the initial half, Nicky Cairo found an unmarked Nick Marvin, who deposited a sharp-angled shot into the bottom of the right panel to cut the lead to a pair (5-3).
• The Bobcats netted three of the ensuing four markers to secure their largest lead of the contest at 8-4 with 8:59 expired. The lone interruption came when White capitalized with a righty bouncer.
• White reeled the deficit to three with his third goal at the 4:48 mark before Cooper DeMallie scored twice in the final three minutes, dicing the advantage to one (8-7). He capped the session with a remarkable individual effort, pinballing through several Bates defenders for a quick finish into the right panel.
• The foes traded blows early in the third. Connor Hartman fired a step-down finish with 1:12 elapsed before DeMallie parried, turning in a pinpoint placement into the top-left corner with 12:32 to play (9-8).
• Jack Markert pushed the visitors to double digits with 3:52 played, sweeping a loose ball on the edge of the crease over the line to restore the two-goal edge.
• After nearly six scoreless minutes, the Middlebury offense whirred into motion. Will Ford earned a solo score with 5:40 to go, while Jackson Hanson posted a player-up finish 40 ticks later, one-timing a feed from DeMallie to knot the battle at 10-10 entering the fourth quarter.
• The lead seesawed again 1:11 into the final stanza when Doyle found the top shelf, establishing an 11-10 line. The Panthers nabbed the momentum with three unanswered strikes in the final 10 minutes, beginning when Brendan Hickey muscled a high-angle shot over his defender to deadlock the game (11-11).
• Ford put the navy and white in front for the first time with 4:08 to go. His decisive runner from the left side bounced inside the right post to nudge the hosts ahead, 12-11.
• Marvin added an insurance tally in the final two minutes, digging out a grounder and darting toward the crease for a one-on-one finish. Frey added a Bates goal with 1:06 remaining, but Kern made two critical saves in the final seconds to secure the 13-12 come-from-behind victory.

NOTES

• DeMallie (3G, 1A) and Ford (2G, 2A) led the offensive front with four points each. Both Panthers logged their season-best efforts in the win.
• White tallied his first hat trick of the campaign.
• Ryan Colella dug out five ground balls and led all players with three caused turnovers.
• Kern made 14 saves in the winning effort, surpassing Eric Krieger '04 for second in program history with 733 career stops.
• Middlebury owns a 36-3 advantage in the all-time series against Bates, including wins in five straight and seven of eight since the 2017 NESCAC Tournament Semifinals.

The Panthers head south for a neutral-site showdown against Union in Saint Leo, Florida on Tuesday at 1:00 p.m.