Men’s Lacrosse Travels to Maine and is Victorious Over Bates, to Face Clark, Middlebury This Week

Cat MacLennan ’20

Sports Editor

The Trinity College men’s lacrosse team took a win over the Bates College Bobcats on Saturday in Lewiston, Maine. Sophomore attackman Connor McCulloch led the scoring with five goals, adding three assists and five ground balls. Bates got the first goal of the game on a fast break opportunity, but Trinity sophomore Reid McDonald answered back with 10:34 left in the first quarter. Bates answered, putting them ahead of the Bantams, but McCulloch tied the game with eight minutes left in the first quarter. Trinity finished the quarter with four straight goals, including one from Morty Fearey and Drew Kozub. 

At the beginning of the second quarter, Bates closed the gap with two goals making the score 5-4. Trinity came back with an aggressive three goals, first-year Cullen Wolff adding one of those goals on an unassisted shot, making it 8-5. Going into half-time, junior Liam Fitzgerald won the faceoff and fired a shot into the back of the net.

During the third quarter, Bates closed the score within two goals for the last time in the game. Three minutes later, first-year Thomas Mara had back-to-back assists to both McDonald and McCulloch within minutes of each other. On a man- up situation, McCulloch gave Trinity a 12-7 lead with eight minutes left in the third quarter. Bates scored once before the Bantams brought them back to a five-goal lead. Bates won the next face-off with seven minutes to go in the quarter, but Trinity stole it back and McCulloch fired a shot from the left post. McDonald had a total of 4 goals, Wolff added two and Mara had four assists against Bates. Bantam goalie Patrick Grimes made 11 saves with Trinity outshooting Bates 48-45. Bates won most of the faceoffs, but the Bantams were fierce is their scoring and turnover abilities. This 16-11 win was their first win over Bates since 2014, making the Bantams 2-1 overall and 1-1 in the NESCAC.

The Tripod spoke to sophomore Harrison Ike to hear about the victory against the Bobcats and their upcoming games this week. Ike said, “This game was a huge win for our team. The coaches put together a great game plan and the team came together and put together a full 60 minutes.” Since Coach Jason Tarnow was hired three years ago, the Bantams have improved their record each season and, in 2017, made an appearance in the post-season for the first time since 2012. Ike added, “We have a couple of tough opponents upcoming this week. The Bates game adds to a good start of the season, but it is now time to focus on our upcoming game versus Clark.” The Bantams will go on to face Clark University at home this Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. Their next NESCAC matchup is Saturday Mar. 14 here at the Jessee/Miller Field against Middlebury College. The Middlebury Panthers are 2-0 this season.