By: Zach Perbeck

NEW LONDON, Conn. – Junior Jared Rainville (Watertown, Conn.) propelled the Connecticut College men's lacrosse team to victory over Colby by a score of 16-9 on Saturday afternoon at Silfen Field. Rainville scored four times for the Camels and added three assists to help the Camels bring both their overall and conference records to .500 on the season.
 
The game started off with Connecticut College jumping out to a two-goal lead thanks to senior captain Patrick Linehan (Baltimore, Md.) who opened the scoring after the aforementioned Rainville found him with a pass in front of the net. Rainville then added a score of his own to give the Camels a two-goal cushion just over a minute and thirty seconds into the game. The Mules answered back with two goals of their own within the next two minutes to tie the game up and hint at a back-and-forth game. The Camels had other plans, however, as senior captain Nick Farnham (Falmouth, Maine) set up junior Gus Mazzocca (West Hartford, Conn.) to reclaim the lead with five minutes left in the half. On the ensuing face-off, sophomore Reese Hornstein (Wayland, Mass.) earned the win for the Camels and made his way down the field to score, just eight seconds after Mazzocca's score. The Mules looked poised to tie the game up once again following a Nick Hassan goal with three minutes remaining in the first quarter, but Farnham added a score of his own 50 seconds later to extend the lead to two goals once again for the Camels and the home team entered the first intermission with a 5-3 lead.

The second quarter once again hinted at a back-and-forth battle, with Hassan scoring once again for the Mules to bring the margin back down to one goal before Farnham once again answered minutes later. After another Colby goal, the Camels decided to pull away for the remainder of the half, scoring three times in the final five minutes of the half to extend their lead to four goals by the time the clock hit zero.

The second half was a story of scoring runs. The Camels opened the half with a goal by freshman Patrick Atkins (Topsfield, Mass.) after just 53 seconds of play to give them a commanding 10-5 lead. The Mules were not prepared to give up, with Hassan scoring twice more and Matt Savage finding the back of the net with just 24 seconds remaining in the period to bring the lead down to three.
The start of the fourth quarter saw another Colby goal, just 40 seconds into the period, to bring the score to 11-9 and what was once a seemingly safe five-goal cushion was reduced to a manageable two goal lead with 15 minutes left to play. Following a series of turnovers for both teams, Rainville once again found the back of the net and started a 5-0 scoring run for Connecticut College that would last throughout the remainder of the game. Freshman Aidan McAvoy (Charlotte, N.C.) accounted for two of those five goals, one coming off a beautifully-thrown bounce shot that found its way past the Colby goalkeeper. Rainville added his fourth and final goal of the game with 52 seconds left to solidify the victory for the Camels by a final score of 16-9.

Sophomore goalkeeper Will Rice (New Rochelle, N.Y.) earned the win for the Camels, making 4 saves on the day. On the other side, Will Rickards of Colby took the loss, allowing 16 goals and making 11 saves.

Connecticut College (3-3, NESCAC 2-2) will return to Silfen Field to take on Trinity on Wednesday, April 6^th at 7:00 p.m. in another NESCAC matchup before traveling to Medford, Mass. to take on Tufts on Saturday, April 9^th at 1:00 p.m.