AMHERST, Mass. -- Junior Bayard DeMallie scored a career-high 5 goals Saturday as the Amherst College men's lacrosse team held off a Middlebury rally to post a key 14-9 conference victory over the Panthers at Alumni Stadium.

The Mammoths scored six of the first seven goals in the game and built a 9-3 lead, then scored five of the final six tallies to stave off a Panther comeback. With their fourth consecutive win, the Mammoths now sit at 8-5 overall and 6-3 overall. Middlebury fell to 7-7 overall and 5-4 in the NESCAC. 

Amherst concludes its regular season with a home game Wednesday against conference foe Trinity College at 6 p.m.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS: 

* DeMallie and Brock Gonzalez each scored twice in the first quarter as Amherst built a 6-1 lead after 15 minutes. After Middlebury's Jack Sheehan scored 1:13 into the contest, Gonzalez countered 11 seconds later to ignite a string of six straight goals. DeMallie scored a man-up goal with 11:33 remaining in the first to give Amherst a lead it would not relinquish. 

* A strong second quarter from Middlebury made it a close game at 7-6 late in the half but goals by Tanyr Krummenacher and Gonzalez 13 seconds apart with just over a minute left in the half gave the Mammoths a 9-6 lead. 

* Middlebury scored the first two goals of the third quarter to make it 9-8, but DeMallie scored the game's next three goals, two off assists from Krummenacher and one from Connor Guest, over a 5:32 span that turned that one-goal lead in a 12-8 advantage. 

* Middlebury scored the only goal in the first 13 minutes of the final stanza, but goals by Guest and Gonzalez sealed the win for Amherst. 



BY THE NUMBERS: 

* First-year Mitch Likins made 15 saves on 24 shots on goal for Middlebury, who wound up with a 41-30 advantage in shots overall. 

* The Mammoths had 13 caused turnovers in the game, led by Lawson Laverty's four and John Fitzhenry's three.