BRUNSWICK, Maine – The Connecticut College men's lacrosse team dropped a 13-9 final to No. 10 Bowdoin College on Saturday afternoon at Whittier Field.

The Camels fell behind 5-1 after the opening quarter but rallied back in the second, cutting the deficit to 6-5 by intermission. In the second half, a 3-0 run gave Bowdoin a 10-6 advantage that it nursed to the finish. Patrick Fitzgerald and Jason Lach each netted hat tricks as the Polar Bears improved to 11-3 overall (6-3 NESCAC).

Jared Rainville (Watertown, Conn.), Patrick Atkins (Topsfield, Mass.) and Liam Horkan (Malden, Mass.) each scored a pair of goals to lead Conn. Will Rice (New Rochelle, N.Y.) played all 60 minutes in goal and recorded 13 saves.

The Polar Bears jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the opening 6:42 of the game. After a goal by Nick McLaughlin (Wilbraham, Mass.) put the Camels on the board, Bowdoin added back-to-back tallies to pad the margin to 5-1 by the end of the period.

Conn used a 3-0 stretch of its own to make up some ground in the second quarter. Rainville scored twice during the spurt—the first on an unassisted effort, and the second off a feed from Graydon Diamond (New Canaan, Conn.)—while Aidan McAvoy (Charlotte, N.C) also found the back of the cage.

The two sides traded goals in the final 2:16 of the half, with Atkins trimming the Bowdoin lead to 6-5 with a tally in the final seconds. The Camels held a 21-15 shot advantage in the stanza.  

An extra-man goal by Horkan pulled Conn to within 7-6 with 8:33 left in the third. Bowdoin then padded the lead with three straight goals, two at the end the third quarter and another to start the fourth. The Polar Bears pushed the lead to as many as five, and late scores by Horkan and JJ Ford (Clinton, Conn.) weren't enough to get the Camels back in the game.

Conn College (5-7 overall, 3-6 NESCAC) will close out the regular season at home against Wesleyan University on Wednesday, April 26 at 7:00 p.m.