WATERVILLE, Maine — The Colby College men's lacrosse team scored the final four goals of the game, but it was not quite enough in a 12-11 loss to 10th-ranked Bates College on Wednesday at Harold Alfond Stadium in the Flahive-McDuffee-Sandler Memorial Game.
Yuta Murata had three goals and one assist, while Alex Rutan finished with one goal and three assists. Both players were key in the comeback attempt.
Jack Allard had four goals and teammate Charlie Fay scored three times for the Bobcats.
Bates is 11-3 overall, 7-3 in NESCAC play, earned the fifth seed in the conference playoffs and will play in a league quarterfinal game Saturday.
The Bobcats took a 12-7 lead on back-to-back goals. Eli Cooper scored unassisted with 11:28 remaining after winning the face-off and scoring just seven seconds after a Colby goal. Clarke Jones tallied from Andrew Melvin with 9:55 to go for the five-goal lead.
The Mules refused to give up and battled back with four straight goals and some good goalkeeping from Dylan Rothenberg. Colton Michel scored, off an assist from Alex Rutan, just 31 seconds after the Jones goal to cut the margin to 12-8. Michel got his second goal with 7:26 when he turned and fired a shot after taking a pass from Jack Bratches.
Colby's Austin Sayre created a buzz around Harold Alfond Stadium when his blistering shot with 2:55 remaining cut the margin to 12-10. The Mules made it a one-goal game when Yuta Murata ripped a high shot after a feed from Rutan.
Bates won a face-off battle and quickly got the ball up the field and were able to run out the clock.
The Mules (3-12 overall, 0-10 NESCAC) led 2-1 after playing a fine opening quarter. Sayre and Murata had unassisted goals, while Rothenberg made four saves. Allard scored from Wes Shrewsbury for the Bobcat goal.
The Bobcats took control with five straight goals in the second quarter. After Kyle Weber scored unassisted, Allard got his second goal with 8:50 remaining from Andrew Melvin. Fay and Jake Walsh had unassisted goals less than a minute apart and Allard scored his third goal with 1:54 remaining from Walsh.
The Mules broke the scoring streak on a goal by Kevin Seiler with 38 seconds left, but Bates made it 7-3 at the half on a Charlie Gravina score from Burke Smith with only 14 seconds to go.
Bates went up 8-3 on Fay's goal from Max Breschi with 12:25 remaining in the third quarter. Murata scored from Rutan with 7:30 to play and Sam Wasserman had a run and blast with 5:00 to play to cut the lead to 8-5. Fay scored the final goal of the third quarter for a 9-5 lead.
Allard scored on the man-up with 14:40 to play in the final quarter for a 10-5 Bobcat margin. The Mules received a second goal from Wasserman on a deflected shot with 13:11 remaining and Rutan scored his lone goal of the game from Murata to make it 10-7.
Mitchell Drake stopped seven shots for the Bobcats, while Rothenberg made 14 saves in his final Colby game.
Gravina had the goal, scooped five ground balls, and had one caused turnover for Bates. Sam Francis was 13-for-21 in face-offs and had four ground balls. Smith added three ground balls and one caused turnover.
Sean Dougherty led the Mules with three caused turnovers and one ground ball. Michael Nathan added two ground balls and one caused turnover, while Max Eberhart had 10 face-off wins and three ground balls.
Bates 12, Colby 11
Bates…………… 1 6 2 3 – 12
Colby…………… 2 1 2 6 – 11
Bates SCORING: GOALS: Jack Allard 4; Charlie Fay 3; Jake Walsh 1; Kyle
Weber 1; Charlie Gravina 1; Clarke Jones 1; Eli Cooper 1.
ASSISTS: Andrew Melvin 2; Max Breschi 1; Wes Shrewsbury 1; Burke Smith
1; Jake Walsh 1.
Colby SCORING: GOALS: Yuta Murata 3; Colton Michel 2; Austin Sayre 2;
Sam Wasserman 2; Alex Rutan 1; Kevin Seiler 1.
ASSISTS: Alex Rutan 3; Jack Bratches 1; Yuta Murata 1.
Bates GROUND BALLS 25: Charlie Gravina 5; Sam Francis 4; Burke Smith
3; Clarke Jones 2; Colby Spehler 2; Jack Allard 1; Max Breschi 1; Eli
Cooper 1; Mitchell Drake 1; Charlie Fay 1; Andrew Melvin 1; Ken
O'Friel 1; Matt Proto 1; Fred Ulbrick 1.
Colby GROUND BALLS 19: Max Eberhart 3; Dylan Rothenberg 3; Joseph
Anile 2; Hunter Moore 2; Michael Nathan 2; Jack Bratches 1; Tucker
Dietrick 1; Sean Dougherty 1; Colton Michel 1; Josh Reed 1; Alex Rutan
1; Austin Sayre 1.
Bates TURNOVERS CAUSED 3: Charlie Gravina 1; Matt Proto 1; Burke Smith
1.
Colby TURNOVERS CAUSED 7: Sean Dougherty 3; Donald Vivian 2; Kenny
Jacobson 1; Michael Nathan 1.
SHOTS – Bates 39; Colby 46.
SHOTS ON GOAL – Bates 26; Colby 18.
Penalties – Bates 1/1:00; Colby 6/5:00.
MAN-UP OPPORTUNITIES – Bates 1-6; Colby 0-1.
TURNOVERS – Bates 13; Colby 13.
FACEOFFS – Bates 15-26; Colby 11-26.
CLEARS – Bates 13-14; Colby 17-18.
GOALIES – Bates: Mitchell Drake (60:00 minutes, 18 shots-7 saves, 11
GA); Colby: Dylan Rothenberg (60:00, 26-14, 12).
