BRUNSWICK, Maine - The Bowdoin College men's lacrosse team held off a late rally to defeat Middlebury, 13-12, in its first game in 723 days on Saturday afternoon at Whittier Field. The victory was also the first at Bowdoin (1-0) for new head coach Bill Mason.
 
Game Highlights

• 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 quarter gave the Polar Bears a slim 8-7 lead at intermission.
• Three straight goals to open the third quarter pushed Bowdoin's lead to 11-7 following Zach Chandler's goal at 6:48 of the period.
• The Polar Bears maintained a four-goal lead with under five minutes to play in the fourth quarter, 13-9, before the Panthers scored three times in the final 4:11 of the contest.
• Barnard won the final faceoff of the game with 28 seconds remaining, however, and the Polar Bears managed to run out the clock to claim the win.

By The Numbers

• Patrick Fitzgerald led Bowdoin with four goals while Donal Mullane had three goals and two assists on the day.
• Zach Chandler finished with three goals and an assist while Ethan Barnard absolutely dominated the faceoff dot, winning 21 of 26 overall.
• In his first collegiate game, Bowdoin's Robert Hobbs made ten saves in an excellent performance in goal while AJ Bravo had three groundballs and two caused turnovers
• Middlebury was led by five goals from Jack Sheehan. Finn O'Connor stopped 18 shots for the Panthers.
• Bowdoin owned a 49-36 advantage in shots and posted a 36-13 advantage in ground balls thanks in great part to a 23-6 advantage on the faceoff dot.

Up Next

• Bowdoin will return to action on Wednesday evening when they play at Endicott College (7:00 p.m.)