Courtesy of Brian Beard

On Wednesday night, men’s lacrosse attacker Patrick Fitzgerald ’25 tied a school record by scoring eight goals in Bowdoin’s 22–9 victory against Bates College (1–8; 0–6 NESCAC). Fitzgerald also played a key role in the team’s victory against Babson College (7–2) last week and narrow loss to Amherst College on Saturday. Fitzgerald’s performance comes right after being named NESCAC Men’s Lacrosse Player of the Week last week.

Fitzgerald scored 53 goals last year in his first season at Bowdoin, and he currently has 38 on this season so far. He hopes to continue to contribute to the team as it looks to find conference success and eventually make a deep playoff run.

Lacrosse has been a large part of Fitzgerald’s life for as long as he can remember. He, his brother and his sister all grew up playing the sport.

His experience seems to be paying off recently, as Fitzgerald racked up two assists, a ground ball and scored once against Babson. He went on to score twice and pick up three ground balls versus Amherst.

Fitzgerald said that the 13–12 loss to Amherst was tough for Bowdoin, but he is hopeful as the team begins to look towards the playoffs.

“We have a couple other losses in conference so far, but I think we’ve been getting a lot better, and the team has definitely been growing. There’s a big stretch of games coming up going into the playoff push, so I think the team’s feeling good,” Fitzgerald said. “We just have to find a way to win some of the close games we’ve had.”

The team is focusing on its atmosphere and culture, especially when they face adversity. Fitzgerald added that the best part of playing at Bowdoin is the support he and his teammates have for one another.

“It’s a great group of people. I love my teammates. A lot of really welcoming upperclassmen and also an awesome coaching staff make it really fun to play,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s a great feeling being able to go out on the field with some of your best friends and play some pretty fun games.”

Fitzgerald’s favorite game of this season so far was against Wesleyan University (7–2; 4–1 NESCAC) on March 25. Fitzgerald had five goals and five ground balls in the 14–8 victory. However, the game stands out for Fitzgerald not because of the number of goals he scored but for how the team played as a whole.

“The Wesleyan game was probably our best win as a team so far. They’re a pretty good team, and it was also alumni weekend,” Fitzgerald said.

Although Wesleyan put up a fight in the first half, the Polar Bears pulled away dramatically in the second half, scoring three goals in 51 seconds and never looking back.

When reflecting on his collegiate career so far, Fitgerald appreciates Bowdoin getting the chance to host the second and third rounds of the NCAA tournament last spring.

“[It was a] cool experience getting to host both games and then also getting to win and extend our season. It was the furthest the team had gone in program history, which was pretty exciting,” Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald is looking forward to hopefully achieving similar results this year.

“[We’re excited for] this final stretch going into the playoffs. I think we have a really good team that can make a good run,” Fitzgerald said. “We fell short last year, but I think we have the group to win a championship, and I think that’s what we’re all focused on doing at this point.”