Men’s lacrosse dominates overwhelmed Bates squad in season opener, puts up 14 goals in home defeat of Bobcats

It didn’t take long for the Middlebury men’s lacrosse team to take control of its 2011 season opening game this past Saturday against Bates. It took even less time for David Hild ’11 to net his first hat trick of the season.
On the back of Hild’s career-best offensive effort (six goals and one assist), the Panthers cruised to an emphatic 14-6 victory against the Bobcats on a freshly shoveled Kohn field, starting off the year 1-0 and pushing the men’s lacrosse team’s overall record against Bates to a dominant 24-0 in program history.
Scoring started early in the first quarter for Middlebury as the Panthers went up 3-0 in the first eight minutes of the game with two goals from Hild and one extra-man goal by Erich Pfeffer ’13. After Bates scored to make it 3-1 with 4:41 left in the quarter, the Panthers went on a second three goal run with two more goals from Hild and one from Andrew Conner ’11 to lead 6-1 only 2:10 into the second quarter.
After Bates’ second goal, the Panthers stormed to a 9-2 lead at halftime with Hild adding his final two tallies of the game bookending a Mike Giordano ’13 goal. Says Zach Driscoll ’13, the strong start in the first half was a long time in the making.
“I think the early lead is a testament to our team’s improved off-season work ethic,” said Driscoll.
“If you have been working hard and practicing at a game speed during preseason and in the off-season, then it is much easier to adjust and succeed early and often in games.” However, teammate Alex Englert ’12 said that the team still has a lot to work on.
“9-2 was solid for the first half, but we lost focus going into the third quarter,” said Englert. “Our preparation will continue to be the same as always, but we need to not be complacent when a good lead is established.”
This complacency was not reflected on the scoreboard in the first part of the third quarter, however, as Middlebury extended its lead to 12-3 with 9:57 remaining on two goals from Tim Cahill ’12 and one from Alex Giammarco ’11.
The team faltered a bit in the later going though, conceding three straight Bates goals in a six-minute span so that with 11:03 remaining in the fourth quarter the game score was 12-6.
The Panthers then finished off strong, with John McGoldrick ’14 and Peter Jennings ’12 scoring one more goal each for a final of 14-6. Goalie Ryan Deane ’11 recorded his first victory of the season, making fourteen saves. Saturday’s greatest success was on offense, however, and Driscoll says this offensive performance is something we can come to expect from this team.
“Our offense has a chance to be great this year. We have middies and attackmen that create mismatches all over the field,” said Driscoll. “These mismatches will cause other teams to change up the way they play defense against us, giving us a definite advantage.”
Englert also added that, “It was a great start for our attack, especially for Mike [Giordano] to complement Cahill and Hild with a solid performance (one goal, three assists.) However, we still have a long way to go offensively to be playing our best lacrosse.” One area that the team faltered was in face-offs, winning only six six of 23 draws.
“We had a couple tough breaks on the faceoffs Saturday, but I am very confident that we have great faceoff guys and a deep selection of athletic wing players,” said Driscoll. “I expect this will make us a very good faceoff team as long as we keep working hard and battling for every ball.”
Middlebury faces Springfield at home on Wednesday before facing Wesleyan in Middletown, Connecticut on Saturday afternoon.