AMHERST, Mass. – Senior midfielder Matt Adams scored the game-winning goal with nine seconds to go to lift the Amherst College men's lacrosse team to a 13-12 win over Bowdoin College in NESCAC action on Saturday afternoon on Pratt Field at Lehrman Stadium.

The Mammoths, ranked eighth in the nation in the latest USILA Division III poll, improved to 7-1 overall and 3-1 in NESCAC action with their sixth straight win. The 15th-ranked Polar Bears fell to 6-3 overall and 2-3 in conference play.

The Mammoths are back in action on Wednesday (April 5), hosting 16th-ranked Wesleyan for a clash of Little Three rivals at 6 p.m.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

* The two sides traded goals early as sophomore attack Patrick Fitzgerald put the Polar Bears on the board in the first minute of the game before senior midfielder Bayard DeMallie leveled the score 29 seconds later.

* Junior long-stick midfielder Harp Lane scored for the Polar Bears to kick off a stretch of three straight Bowdoin goals in the first quarter that gave the visitors a lead they maintained until the very end of the first half.

* With Bowdoin leading by two late in the second quarter, Adams fired a shot from 15 yards out that brought the Mammoths back within one, then with five seconds left in the quarter, junior attack Jake Bennett took a pass from first-year attack Bob Gross and scored his 20th goal of the season to send the teams to halftime tied at 6-6.

* The Mammoths took their first lead of the game early in the third quarter as Adams struck again with 11:16 on the clock.

* First-year attack Sam Raye-Steiner scored his second of the game for Bowdoin to tie the score before senior midfielder Sam Powell scored to give the Polar Bears an 8-7 lead with 6:50 to go in the third quarter.

* The Mammoths took advantage of a man-up opportunity to tie the score again as DeMallie netted his second of the game with 5:12 left in the third. In the final minute of the quarter, a shot from junior midfielder Connor Guest found the stick of Gross, who scored his second of the game to give Amherst a 9-8 lead entering the fourth quarter.

* Gross opened the fourth quarter with another goal, capitalizing on a possession gained when senior midfielder Brodie Rayment caused a turnover with a punishing hit at the other end of the field. Gross then set up senior attack Tanyr Krummenacher for his third goal of the game to give the Mammoths an 11-8 lead with 11:20 to play.

* Sophomore attack Jason Lach got one back for Bowdoin with 9:16 on the clock but sophomore Nicholas Kopp won the ensuing face-off for the Mammoths and raced down the field to score his second goal of the game.

* The end of the game unfolded strikingly similar to last season's NESCAC semifinal between these two teams. In that game, the Mammoths scored to take a three-goal lead with 9:15 to play before Patrick Fitzgerald scored for Bowdoin with 7:49 to play to kick off a string of four straight goals, with Will Byrne tying the game and the Polar Bears netting the game-winner with eight seconds left. In today's game, Kopp's goal that put the Mammoths up by three came with 9:10 to play before Fitzgerald scored with 7:59 to play to kick off a string of three straight goals, with Byrne once again scoring the game-tying goal.

* In today's meeting, the Mammoths flipped the script in the final seconds, as Adams took a pass 15 yards out from the goal and maneuvered through a trio of black-shirted Bowdoin defenders to score the game-winning goal with nine seconds left in the game.



BY THE NUMBERS:

* Adams' game-winning goal completed his fifth hat trick of the season and Krummenacher also scored three in the contest, as he has done in seven of eight games this season. Gross scored a pair of goals and assisted on four others for a game-high six points.

* Sophomore Mitch Likins made 18 saves to earn the win in goal, his fourth game this season with at least 18 saves.

* Byrne and Lach each tallied two goals and an assist for the Polar Bears.

* Kopp won 19 of 29 face-offs and picked up 12 ground balls as the Mammoths held a 45-29 advantage in ground balls.

* The Mammoths outshot the Polar Bears by a 52-42 margin.