LEWISTON — After a close first half, Western New England found a rhythm and found the back of Bates College’s net. 

With just a one-goal lead at the half, the Golden Bears poured on the goals in the third en route to a 21-13 victory in a non-conference men’s lacrosse matchup at Garcelon Field. 

Brian Madden scored three goals in the third quarter alone to help grow Western New England’s halftime lead of 9-8 to 14-8 with 6:50 to play in the quarter. 

Western New England dominated possession in the third frame and scored seven goals unanswered before Wil Masterson scored from the right side to bring the Bobcats within 16-9 with 1:56 left in the third. 

Masterson led the Bobcats (0-3) with three goals, as did Will Schinabeck. 

Conor Tracy scored before the end of the quarter, giving the Golden Bears a 17-9 lead with 71 seconds left before the fourth. 

“I think in the beginning of the game, having a long layover from our third game, we just needed to let our guys play through it,” Western New England coach John Klepacki said. “I thought they were still making some good decisions and things weren’t falling for them. We got into a rhythm, and we have veterans that have been there and they needed to just make it simple. I think the guys stepped up a lot and worked through their kinks.”

Mike Bannon scored twice in the third quarter. Bannon finished the game with a team-high four goals, alongside Jared Newall’s four goals for the Golden Bears (4-0). 

“I think we had really good balance,” Klepacki said. “I thought Mike Bannon had some big moments. … I thought he played well and the upperclassmen did well, too.”

In the fourth, both teams scored four goals each. Despite the loss, Bates coach Peter Lasagna was optimistic after the game. 

“I’ll share with you what I shared with the team. My goal is never to come out here and lose by eight or whatever it was, but we battled really hard against a really good, veteran team,” Lasagna said. “We started well. Did they get the better of it in the second half? They did. But I saw some signs of life, which were promising because they’re as old as we are young.”

Lasagna said that Western New England’s aggression in the middle of the field and its faceoff dominance were a couple of reasons for the Golden Bear’s big third quarter. 

Bates began the game with a 4-0 lead thanks in part to Jack Lousararian’s two goals that opened the scoring for the Bobcats. 

Bates took a 5-2 lead into the second quarter before Western New England scored five of the next six goals to take a 7-6 lead. Tracy scored two goals for the Golden Bears in the second to help lead the comeback. 

After Masterson scored his second goal of the quarter to tie the game at 7-7, Ben Kolb answered for Western New England. 

Kolb received a pass from Newall from behind the net, and from the left side jumped and launched a shot at the net that found the corner for a goal. Kolb celebrated from the ground as Western New England took an 8-7 lead with 4:40 left in the first half. 

Newall added another goal 55 seconds later to put the Golden Bears up 9-7. 

With one second left in the first half, Bates’ Max Patterson scored to cut the deficit to 9-8. 

Even though the Bobcats lost, their 13 goals were the most scored in Bates’ young season. 

“We put a new offense in on Monday and Tuesday, so they just ran it for the first time and scored the most goals that we’ve scored so far,” Lasagna said. “I like that a lot. The thing about a young team is, they have to grow up. They might not have the time to grow up as you might want but they’re doing well and it’s exciting.”

The Bobcats will play their first NESCAC home game of the season on Saturday when Trinity will travel to Lewiston for an afternoon matchup.

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