The men's lacrosse team toppled Endicott in a home game yesterday evening, capturing its first win in three games. With a final score of 13-12, this victory puts the Polar Bears at a 4-6 record.
Though the Gulls scored three goals at the beginning of the game, Ben Chadwick '11 led Bowdoin's offense with two goals to bring the score to 4-3 by the end of the first period.
The two teams traded goals throughout the first half, but the Polar Bears remained up by one, at 8-7, when the halftime whistle blew.
Keegan Mehlhorn '12 led the team in points, scoring four goals. Senior Kit Smith also scored three while Billy Bergner '13 landed two.
The men's lacrosse team will look to earn a spot in the NESCAC playoffs next week when it takes on conference foes Bates and Williams.
"We've had a tough season so far," said junior midfielder Brendan Hughes, "but we still have a shot to make the NESCAC tournament if we can string together a couple good games this week."
Last Saturday, the Polar Bears fell to 1-5 in the NESCAC and 3-6 on the year with a loss to nationally ranked Middlebury.
After falling behind 3-0 early, Bowdoin displayed its resiliency and ended the first quarter on a 6-1 run behind two goals from senior captain Russ Halliday.
Bowdoin was unable to carry the momentum from a strong first quarter into the second, however, as Middlebury senior Tim Cahill scored five goals to lead his team on a 6-1 run, giving Middlebury a 10-7 halftime lead.
"We played well in stretches," said Jimmy Herter '11, "but again, we couldn't sustain that level of play for 60 minutes, and against a team as good as Middlebury, you really have to if you want to win."
Middlebury was in control from then on, never allowing Bowdoin to move closer than four goals in a game that would end 16-12 in the Panther's favor.
The win moved the Panthers to 6-2 (4-2 NESCAC) and dropped the Polar Bears to ninth in the NESCAC.
Smith and Mehlhorn led the Polar Bears with three goals each, while Hughes continued his strong season, winning 16 of 27 faceoffs and picking up 13 groundballs.
"We're obviously not where we want to be right now," said Hughes, "but we've shown we can compete with anyone and we're going to do our best to win the games we have left on our schedule."
-Nora Biette-Timmons contributed to this report.