The 18th-ranked Middlebury men's lacrosse team got off to a quick start and held off a late charge by Bates to secure a 17-11 win. 
 
HIGHLIGHTS

• The Panthers opened the scoring at the 13:34 mark when Russell Thorndike grabbed a pass from Patrick Jamin. With a defender on his back, Thorndike spun around in the air and flipped the ball into the net for a 1-0 edge.
• Billy Curtis inbounded the ball behind the goal before driving around the left pipe and slipping his shot past goalie Andrew Toland to make it 2-0 with 8:07 left.
• The Bobcats cut the deficit in half (2-1) just 13 seconds later when Cooper Lance's sidearm bid from 25 yards out found nylon.
• The Panthers added a pair of tallies toward the end of the stanza, as Logan White and Nick Marvin both beat defenders on the right side and scored for the 4-1 lead.
• Bates wouldn't go away, making it 4-2 as the opening-quarter clock expired. Liam Rule intercepted a clearing attempt and dished it to Riley McClure, who beat goaltender Hayden Kern. 
• Middlebury rattled off four unanswered markers to start the second stanza. Finn McCarthy and Cooper DeMallie tallied goals less than a minute apart, before Curtis tacked on a pair to increase the advantage to 8-2. 
• McClure broke up the scoring frenzy with a sharp-angled goal inside the right pipe with 5:52 remaining.
• At the 2:44 mark, Jamin rifled a shot from 25 yards out, before a player-up doorstep goal from Marvin just over a minute later made it 10-3 at the 1:39 mark.
• The Bobcats had the final say in the half. Miles Schmidt converted from the 15-yard line to slice the lead to six (10-4) at the break. 
• Middlebury started the third stanza with a trio of goals with Thorndike sandwiched around another pair of goals from Curtis for the 13-4 lead.
• Bates responded with back-to-back tallies, but McCarthy extended the advantage to 14-6 with a last-minute marker. 
• James Farinacci and White pushed the Panthers to a double-digit lead (16-6) early in the final frame.
• Bates mounted a comeback, with Connor Hartman opening and closing a five-goal spurt to cut the deficit to 16-11 with 4:38 to go.
• Middlebury halted the scoring spree and Teddy Curran added an insurance tally with 20 seconds left for the 17-11 win. 

NOTES

• Curtis tied his career high with five goals during the contest, while also dishing out a pair of assists to lead all players with seven points. He also scooped up five groundballs during the triumph.
• William Munroe went 18-26 at the X, while pacing all players with nine rollers. 
• The programs played for the 38th time with the Panthers claiming their 35th victory in the series.

Middlebury travels to the US Lacrosse Headquarters in Maryland on Tuesday to take on Babson at 1:00 p.m.