Men’s Lacrosse Defeats Bowdoin With Late Surge

In a NESCAC matchup on April 2, Bowdoin came out of the gates strong, building a 4-1 lead right off the bat, but the Mammoths responded and tied the game at 6-6 through clutch goals from Tanyr Krummenacher ’23, Matt Adams ’23, Jake Bennett ’24 and Nicholas Kopp ’25. The Mammoths came out of halftime on an offensive tear as Adams scored an unassisted goal to give the Mammoths a 7-6 lead, their first lead of the contest. Bowdoin responded with two goals of their own to give them an 8-7 edge before Bayard DeMallie ’23 scored a goal to even the score at 8. It was a battle. The Mammoths would get two more goals from Bob Gross ’26 and a goal from Krummenacher to give them a 11-8 edge over the Polar Bears. Still, the Polar Bears kept making their way back into the game, making the score 11-9. However, Amherst responded right back with a big goal off the face-off by Kopp to give the Mammoths a 12-9 edge over the Polar Bears. Nevertheless, the Polar Bears responded and scored three big goals to even the score at 12 with 3:26 left in the game. After a few stops from both sides, the Mammoths got the ball late and Adams slithered his way by a whole host of defenders to score the go-ahead goal with 9 seconds left. When asked about his game-winning goal, Adams emphasized it was “a team effort” to make this special moment happen. Bowdoin took one final shot, but Mitch Likins ’25 stifled their attempt and the Mammoths came away with the victory. Adams and Krummenacher ended with three goals while DeMallie, Kopp and Gross all pitched in 2 goals of their own.

When asked about the result, Ryan Rahbany ’24 said that, “It was awesome to beat them [Bowdoin] especially after they knocked us out of the NESCAC tournament last year … [it] definitely … feels great to win.” Brodie Rayment ’23 and Jack McHugh ’23  emphasized the play of Kopp at face-off as a “key component in their win,” as Kopp went 19/29 for the Mammoths. They also harped on “the brilliance of Mitch [Likins]” behind the net as he had 18 saves to help the Mammoths defense.

Coach Sean Woods echoed the same sentiment: “We showed our resilience and ability to finish the game against Bowdoin. Our players have great belief in each other and the team right now. We are having a lot of fun.” Keeping up that passion and fun will be key for the rest of the season.

Men’s lacrosse will be back at Amherst on April 6 against Wesleyan at 6 p.m.