By Jenna Whelan '22

NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Connecticut College men's lacrosse team finished up its NESCAC East campaign with a highly-competitive 13-12 victory over Bates this Saturday afternoon on Silfen Field. 
 
The program also took time to honor its nine seniors – Toby Almeida (Cumberland, R.I.), Matt Connolly (Newark, Del.), Sam Zanelli (Summit, N.J.), Gareth Gacetta (Fairfield, Conn), Zach Gustafson (Sherborn, Mass), Colin Spinney (Foxboro, Mass), Jake Simon (Warren, N.J.), Billy Dreyer (Columbia, S.C.), and Alex Bologna (Greenwich, Conn) – prior to the start of the game.
 
The Bobcats were first to put a tally up on the scoreboard on a man-up opportunity, but junior Patrick Linehan (Baltimore, M.D.) was able to find the back of the net off a pass from freshman Jack Gurney (Grafton, Mass) about four minutes later.
 
From then on, the Camels stayed on the attack. Linehan and sophomore Jared Rainville (Watertown, C.T) were persistent on the offensive end in the final 18 seconds of the quarter, where Linehan buried one goal off of Rainville's pass, and Rainville scored with just seven seconds remaining to make the score 5-2 going into the second quarter.
 
Bates responded to the first quarter run with three unanswered goals and kept the game close, but junior Nick Farnham (Falmouth, Maine) got himself involved in back to back goals with one assist to junior Logan Bowdish (Waterford, Conn) and tallying one on his own to give the Camels the 7-5 lead with five minutes to go in the half. Just before the buzzer, sophomore defender Jack Venturelli (Duxbury, Mass) snuck one into the net to give the Camels a three goal lead and the momentum for the next half. 
 
Linehan, Rainville, and Farnham did not let up in the second half. Rainville converted off of a caused turnover from Linehan for his first goal of the day, and Farnham tallied two more in the third quarter, including one unassisted after an incredible save from freshman goalkeeper Will Rice (New Rochelle, N.Y.).
 
The Bobcats attempted a comeback led by Jackson Sell in the final quarter, but the Camels were able to outlast the attack with help from Venturelli and senior Zach Gustafson (Sherborn, Mass). While the hosts were able to hold the ball for the final minute, Bates forced a turnover to give themselves a chance in the last 10 seconds. However, they could not convert to tie it.
 
Bates (1-3, NESCAC East 0-3) was led by Sell who finished with three goals, Jack Vinci with two, and Oliver Allen registered four points on one goal and three assists.
 
Almeida scooped up an impressive 20 ground balls while going 23 for 27 on faceoffs on the day for Connecticut College (3-3, NESCAC East 1-2). Rice recorded 11 saves in his 60 minutes of play to earn the victory between the posts, and Bates' goalkeeper Spencer Wood suffered the loss despite making 11 saves as well.