BRUNSWICK, Maine – The Bowdoin College men's lacrosse team held off a fourth quarter rally to defeat Middlebury in its season opener Saturday, 12-9.
Bowdoin begins the year 1-0 (1-0 NESCAC) and drops Middlebury to 0-1 (0-1 NESCAC).
Game Highlights
- The Polar Bears opened the scoring with just under two minutes expired. Casey Ryan muscled his way through a pair of defenders and deposited his sidearm shot into the lower left corner for the 1-0 advantage.
- Bowdoin took a 2-0 lead with 6:37 remaining when Chris Berry came from behind the goal and saw his diving shot trickle into the net after hitting a defender.
- The Panthers cut the deficit in half with 3:54 to go. Nick Marvin whipped a shot into the right panel from 25 yards out to make it 2-1 after one quarter of action.
- Middlebury knotted the contest at two goals apiece at the 10:12 mark when Ged Gengras used a quick stick to elude Bowdoin goalie Alec Delgado.
- A catch-and-release tally from Berry sparked a five-goal burst for the Polar Bears, who took a commanding 6-2 lead into halftime.
- Berry scored seconds into the third quarter to make it 7-2 in favor of Bowdoin.
- Gavin Romweber sliced the deficit to 7-3 with a nifty goal at the 9:52 mark, but Berry responded for Bowdoin with back-to-back markers to extend the advantage to 9-4 with 4:18 to go.
- Romweber dished the ball to Brendan Hickey, who found nylon to generate a 5-1 Panther spurt that cut the Polar Bears' lead to 10-8 with just 8:15 to go in the game. Logan White tacked on the final tallies of the burst, while Berry added the lone Bowdoin score during the stretch.
- The momentum was not enough for Middlebury as the Polar Bears tallied two of the final three goals to secure the 12-9 triumph.
By the Numbers
- Berry led all scorers with seven to open the year. Ryan and Raye-Steiner each had a pair.
- Alec Choi went 7-for-12 on faceoffs and Cam Wietfeldt went 5-for-13.
- Alex Byrne picked up four ground balls.
- Brooks Kitchel had three caused turnovers.
- Alec Delgado made 11 saves for Bowdoin.
- Hayden Kern made 11 stops for the Panthers.
Up Next
- Bowdoin hits the road for a game at Hamilton on March 7 with a 1:00 p.m. start.