Waterville, Maine - In a high-energy NESCAC matchup on Saturday afternoon, the Colby Men's Lacrosse team showcased a resilient offensive performance, ultimately falling just short against the Bantams of Trinity College with a final score of 13-11. Despite the result, the Mules out shot the Bantams 50-47 and matched them in the ground ball battle with 30 apiece.

The Colby attack was spearheaded by a trio of standout performances. Eli Chilicki, Daniel O'Connor, and Gavin Rothenberg each recorded hat tricks to lead the scoring effort. Chilicki opened the scoring for the Mules in the first period off an assist from Will Steele and added two more throughout the contest, including a crucial man-up goal in the fourth quarter assisted by Easton Bello.

After falling behind early, Colby found its rhythm in the second period. Trailing 7-2, the Mules surged back with three consecutive goals to close the half. O'Connor found the back of the net twice in that span—once on an unassisted effort and again on a man-up opportunity—while Rothenberg scored with just five seconds remaining in the half following a feed from Cormac Wright to cut the deficit to 7-5.

The Mules continued to push in the second half. Ethan Taerstein sparked the third-period scoring with a goal assisted by Chilicki, followed shortly by Rothenberg's second goal of the day via an assist from Tyler Katt.

The fourth quarter saw Colby pull even as O'Connor netted his third goal of the game at the 5:34 mark, assisted by Taerstein, to tie the score at 10-10. Trinity managed a late three-goal run to reclaim the lead, but Wright capped off the scoring for the Mules with an unassisted goal in the final seconds of regulation.

Defensively, Will Heisler turned aside 12 shots in the cage, matching his counterpart for Trinity. Katt led the defensive pressure with two caused turnovers and a team-high five ground balls. Tristan Bassett anchored the face off circle for much of the day, winning eight draws and picking up three ground balls. Colby held the advantage in several statistical categories, including a clean 17-of-20 on clear attempts and converting two of their four extra-man opportunities.

As the last game of the regular season, Colby will not move on to the NESCAC tournament; however, this season marks a lot of success for the Mules. Chilicki led the Colby offense in his rookie season with the mules, scoring 31 goals and 11 assists for 42 points. O'Connor also had a strong first season, following close behind with 22 goals and nine assists for 31 points. Rothenberg led the Mules with a career-high 15 assists. Defensively, Heisler recorded 136 saves with an .469 average, and first-year Zachary Parks recorded 20 saves for an average of .417.