Ephs ride big second half to 17-8 win over men's lacrosse

Senior captain Clarke Jones led the Bobcats with four goals on Saturday, March 24, 2018 against Williams. (Theophil Syslo/Bates College)

LEWISTON, Maine -- The Bates men's lacrosse team scored just two goals in the second half in a 17-8 loss to the Williams College Ephs Saturday at Garcelon Field. 

It's the largest margin of defeat for the Bobcats (4-4, 1-3 NESCAC) since they lost 17-8 to Amherst in 2014. 

Brendan Hoffman paced Williams (3-3, 2-2 NESCAC) with four goals and an assist while senior captain Clarke Jones (Pepper Pike, Ohio) led Bates with four goals, an assist, five ground balls and two caused turnovers .

With the score tied at six at halftime, the Ephs scored the first two goals of the second half and never trailed after that. The Bobcats took advantage of a man-up situation and Jones brought the Bobcats to within one on an assist from sophomore Curtis Knapton (Westbrook, Maine) with 11:20 left in the third quarter.

But Cory Lund scored the first of his three goals with 7:13 to go in the third. Then Hoffman scored with 4:15 remaining and Lund tallied another goal on an assist from John Hincks with 1:14 left.

Trailing 11-7 at the end of three, the fourth quarter started terribly for Bates when the Ephs' Angus O'Rourke won the opening faceoff and charged down the field, scoring a goal to put Williams up five. Knapton answered less than a minute later but Bates did not score again. The Ephs scored the final five goals of the game to pull away for the victory. 

Williams also scored the first four goals of the contest before the Bobcats rallied. 

Sophomore Matt Chlastawa (Westfield, Mass.) found first-year Jack Scribner (Falmouth, Maine) and Scribner got the Bobcats on the board with 5:09 to go in the first quarter. Then Knapton connected with Jones with 1:37 remaining in the first to cut the deficit to 4-2.

Senior Parker Strong (Wenham, Mass.) scored his second goal of the season to open the second quarter on an assist from junior Rocco Fantoni (Hauppage, N.Y.) to trim the deficit to 4-3.

The Ephs responded with two straight goals before Jones scored unassisted with 7:43 left in the half to cut the Williams lead to 6-4. Chlastawa and the Bobcats took advantage of a man-up situation with 2:59 left in the half and Jones tied the score at six with just 26 seconds remaining. 

But the second half belonged to Williams, as they outscored Bates 11-2 to conclude the game.

The Ephs won 19 of 29 faceoffs and won the ground ball battle 41-31. Williams' George Peele impressed in the cage with 13 saves. 

The Bobcats are back in action Tuesday when they host Endicott at 5:00 p.m.