Dan Hines ’13 and teammates celebrate Hines’ game-winning goal in overtime against Amherst on March 10. Bates has won six of eight games since then. File photo by Hank Schless ’14.

Jack Strain ’15 (27) and Jack Allard ’16 (45) share Bates’ team lead in points, with 23 apiece. Strain file photo by Phyllis Graber Jensen; Allard file photo by Hank Schless ’14.

LEWISTON, Maine — The Bates men’s lacrosse team’s 7-6 comeback victory over Hamilton last Saturday was only the latest evidence to support the following hypothesis: The Bobcats are looking pretty darned good these days, at all points on the field.

In their last game before final exams began this week, the Bobcats took only 26 shots to Hamilton’s 38, but Bates’ defense was too strong for Hamilton’s attack to generate good scoring opportunities, at one point allowing the Continentals 10 consecutive shots, with none connecting. Hamilton’s goalie came up with eight saves, but Bates junior Charlie Kazarian had nine.

Three different players had two goals apiece to lead Bates’ balanced attack. Of the team’s four goals in the fourth quarter came, the middle two came from a relative youngster, Jack Strain, and they were sandwiched by tallies from a pair of seniors in Kyle Starr and Rob Highland, who scored the game-winner with 89 seconds left in regulation. Bates controlled 12 out of 16 faceoffs in the game.

“Directly related to our students’ will to prepare.”

“Part of our success comes from the fact that we get contributions from so many, at both ends of field and at the faceoff square,” said head coach Peter Lasagna. “Saturday’s effort is directly related to our students’ will to prepare. For us to focus and train as diligently as we did, heading into finals, speaks volumes about these young men.”

From offense to defense, goalies to faceoff men, and from proud seniors to precocious first-year players, there’s no doubt that this 2013 team feels more complete, its highest degree of team chemistry in some time.

At 6-4, the Bobcats don’t qualify as a runaway train just yet (notably, however, the 10-7 setback at Williams on March 30 is their most “lopsided” thus far), but compared to recent years, the victories have still been piling up quite nicely.

They have their most wins since the 2007 club that finished 6-6, and with NESCAC dates remaining at Tufts (April 16), at Connecticut College (April 20) and against Colby (April 24), Bates already has its most conference victories since 2006, with four. The Bobcats are currently tied for fifth place in the league with Bowdoin, and with two more NESCAC wins than five other teams in the league, they are in prime position to make their first appearance in the eight-team NESCAC Championship since 2007.

Co-captain Charlie Clark ’13 (left) is in his fourth year as a key cog of Bates’ ever-sturdy defense. File photo by Hank Schless ’14.

“Everything has been a step up from previous years,” said senior defenseman Andrew Berry, who leads the team with 14 caused turnovers, including a critical one that led to Highland’s game-winner. “The team chemistry has been great from Day 1, our conditioning has been on another level… There have been a couple of key wins for us that came after tough losses. Those were games that we probably didn’t win in years past.”

Bates actually lost its first two games this season, against Skidmore and Middlebury, but rebounded with a dramatic overtime 10-9 overtime win over Amherst in the March 10 home opener, with senior Dan Hines scoring the game-winner. That started a three-game win streak that was interrupted by a tough 12-11 loss at Bowdoin. But the Bobcats again responded, going on to post their most lopsided conference victory since the NESCAC became a playing conference in 2001, a 14-6 pasting of Trinity.

A pair of Jacks.

Bates’ attack is scoring goals on 27.3 percent of its shots thus far; that may not sound significant, until the number is compared to the team’s figure in the previous five seasons, ranging from 21.1 percent in 2012 to 23.5 percent in 2008.

A pair of Jacks from New Jersey — Jack Strain (Montclair, N.J.) and Jack Allard (Ridgewood, N.J.), share the team lead in points, with 23 apiece. Allard, who has become Bates’ first 20-goal scorer since 2009, was recently named a freshman to watch by InsideLacrosse.com.

This team is balanced everywhere you look. The Bobcats’ top 10 point-scorers thus far comprise two freshmen, four sophomores, one junior and three seniors. And despite the loss to graduation of three starting defenders, including All-American Kevin Helm, Bates’ perenially sturdy defense has remained as solid as ever.

In front of Kazarian, is senior Berry, senior captain Charlie Clark and senior captain Torben Noto. But a youthful infusion has certainly helped raise the unit’s level of play this season. Freshmen David Cappellini and Colby Spehler have already become regular starters, while sophomores Connor Cerniglia and Evan Chen and first-years Matt Proto and Karl Rickett have also played very effectively at times.

Faceoff specialist Mac Jackson ’15 leads the conference in ground balls. File photo by Hank Schless ’14.

Fifty-four of the team’s 99 goals (54.5 percent) have been scored by either Allard, Strain or Highland, and 36 of the Bobcats’ 58 assists (62.1 percent) have come from either Hines, sophomore Nick Ford or Starr. Sophomore Mac Jackson and junior Paul Donovan are the biggest reasons Bates currently ranks first in the NESCAC, and 31st among 203 Division III teams in faceoff success: 59.6 percent (130 of 218) of all faceoffs thus far have been controlled by the Bobcats, with Jackson winning 86 of 149 (57.7 percent) and Donovan winning 43 of 68 (63.2 percent). Jackson entered the week leading all other NESCAC players in ground balls, with 69 — 18 more than any other player.

Hines, son of New England that he is (hailing from Manchester, Mass.), likens the team’s balanced mental approach to what they call the Patriot Way down in Foxborough, Mass. “Everybody accepts their position on this team. It’s a matter of recognizing what your job within the team is, and doing it,” Hines said.

Bates’ stiffest challenge on the schedule.

Bates’ next game is at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 16, at Tufts, ranked fourth nationally, a game that may well represent Bates’ stiffest challenge on the schedule.

“The Jumbos are very good. But so are the Bobcats,” said Lasagna. “I believe that this 2013 team is a confident bunch. They know what they are capable of. Our group is excited about the opportunity to play one of the best teams in the country, in front of a passionate, Bates lacrosse crowd in Boston.”

Andrew Berry ’13 leads the Bobcats in caused turnovers and is second on the team in ground balls. File photo by Hank Schless ’14.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The video includes 19 current Bates student-athletes and President Clayton Spencer, and can be seen at both YouCanPlayProject.org and on Bates’ athletics website. (Of the ever-expanding number of colleges creating You Can Play videos, Bates is the first to feature its president.)

“The You Can Play program represents the extension to Athletics of our core commitment to inclusion,” said President Spencer, “helping to ensure that fans and teammates alike judge our student-athletes and coaches on the effort and commitment they bring to their sport — rather than on sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.”

Patrick Burke, the founder of You Can Play, expressed a particular enthusiasm about the campaign, having a personal connection to Bates: his sister Katie is a Bates graduate and former Bobcat volleyball player.

“Bates College is a tremendous school with a proud athletic tradition, and we are thrilled to have Bates join the You Can Play Project’s campaign to end homophobia in sports,” said Burke, a scout for the Philadelphia Flyers. “From the president to the athletic department, to the coaches, to the players — the entire institution is taking a stance in favor of inclusion, equality, and opportunity. I hope and believe that this will be an inspiration to the LGBT athletes and their allies currently on campus, and those who will attend in the future. We are proud that LGBT athletes have another safe place to participate in athletics.”

The video demonstrates another example of Bates’ long institutional history of inclusion and social justice. In May 2012, Bates was one of 10 colleges to be included on Campus Pride’s first ever “Out to Play List,” for its qualities of inclusion and friendliness in relation to LGBT students. Athletics has sponsored numerous “Athlete Ally” events in conjunction with the Bates Pride Festival. Bates’ most decorated student-athlete ever, Keelin Godsey ’06, came out as transgender prior to his senior year at Bates — Godsey was subsequently featured in Sports Illustrated’s May 28, 2012, issue in a special report, “The Transgender Athlete.”

As Bates Athletic Director Kevin McHugh said, “The Department of Athletics has worked hard and intentionally to help lead the Bates community in respecting and welcoming everyone, regardless of their perceived or actual sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.”

Individuals appearing in the video include (in order): Ryan Weston (football, men’s basketball), Jacqui Holmes (women’s tennis), Cheri-Ann Parris (women’s squash), Chloe Mitchell (women’s squash), Tara Dugan (women’s swimming & diving), Travis Jones (women’s swimming & diving), Patrick George (football), Tess Walther (women’s volleyball), Nicole Russell (women’s volleyball), David Pless (men’s track & field), Gretchen Sellegren (women’s Nordic skiing), President Spencer, Evan Chen (men’s lacrosse), Nessrine Ariffin (women’s squash), Ahmed Abdel Khalek (men’s squash), Myriam Kelly (women’s squash), Caran Arora (men’s squash), Filip Michalsky (men’s squash), Ryan Sonberg (baseball) and Torben Noto (men’s lacrosse); Catherine Tuttle (women’s Nordic skiing) also participated. The video was shot and produced by Phyllis Graber Jensen and Michael Bradley of the Bates Communications Office. Organizational assistance was provided by head men’s lacrosse coach Peter Lasagna and sports information director Andy Walter.

You Can Play is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring equality, respect and safety for all athletes, without regard to sexual orientation or gender identity. You Can Play works to guarantee that athletes are given a fair opportunity to compete, judged by other athletes and fans alike, only by what they contribute to the sport or their team’s success. You Can Play seeks to challenge the culture of locker rooms and spectator areas by focusing only on an athlete’s skills, work ethic and competitive spirit.

David Pless ’13 of Atlanta, Ga., won the shot put on Saturday, March 12, at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships, besting his own Bates record with a throw of 56 feet, 6 inches.

Ethan Waldman ’11 of Playa del Rey, Calif., earned All-America honors by finishing sixth in the event at 53 feet, 11 and three-quarter inches. Waldman become the third Bobcat All-American at the championships in two days, after Chris Murtagh ’11 of Rowley, Mass, placed fifth in the 35-pound weight throw on Friday.

The meet was held at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. Full results are here.

• See the 6 o’clock news segment about David Pless broadcast on Maine ABC affiliate WMTW-TV on March 17.
• Read Steve Solloway’s column in the March 25 edition of The Portland Press Herald, “In the end, they’re Coach Joe’s boys”.

Pless’ championship shot put

Pless enters the throwing circle at the 13-second mark.

Click here to view the embedded video.

“There are so many variables in [a shot putter's] rotation technique, but today it was just on,” said Pless. “This is a great day to be a Bobcat.”

“I wanted it, and I worried about it, but I overcame that.”

The 6-foot-5 Pless acknowledged feeling plenty of butterflies prior to the competition, held at Capital University. “I’m really proud of myself for controlling my nervousness. I think that’s one of the best things about this,” he said. “I wanted it, and I worried about it, but I overcame that.”

Bates head coach Al Fereshetian said he was “overwhelmed” by the events of the day.

“For David to pull all of that together in his first time at nationals is just amazing,” Fereshetian added. “He stayed composed and executed right off the bat, and from there he really got into it. And to be honest, this was a phenomenal day, but there’s more to come from him.”

Pless quickly moved to the head of the pack in his preliminary flight, with an outstanding initial put of 16.58 meters. He moved up to 16.62 on his second attempt, and on his third attempt he broke his former Bates record in the indoor shot put of 55-02.75 by going 56-6, or 17.22 meters.

Waldman’s All-America shot put

Waldman enters the throwing circle at the 15-second mark.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Waldman competed in the second preliminary flight and all but ensured a place in the finals with a strong first attempt of 15.49 meters, which put him in eighth place at the start of the finals. In the finals he went 16.15, then 16.45 to move up two places.

“I’m extremely proud of Ethan. He has such a great, competitive nature, and it’s a big motivation for me to try to match him,” said Pless.

Murtagh’s All-America weight throw

Murtagh enters the throwing circle at the 20-second mark.

Click here to view the embedded video.

“Chris did a fantastic job of competing, and now we get to put his plaque up on the wall in Merrill,” said Fereshetian, referring to the track and field teams’ plaques recognizing all of Bates’ All-Americans. “I think this sets him up for a great outdoor season.”

Murtagh is a five-time All-NESCAC performer in outdoor track and field, including two conference javelin titles.

Hugs, Tears and High-Fives

The fun begins at the 1-minute mark as family, friends and coaches celebrate with hugs, tears and high-fives.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Pless first took up track and field in eighth grade, after getting cut from a baseball team. Enthusiasm for the sport has turned to passion since coming to Bates, he said. He found positive competition with Waldman, who set the team’s seven-year-old indoor shot put record at the State Championships in February, with Pless retaking the mark two weeks later.

“My parents made this happen.”

Pless’ parents, Dana Halberg and Larry Pless, were sitting nearby as Pless spoke on the phone after his title performance, “crying like babies,” he said. “My parents made this happen. They’ve always pushed me to do well and instilled a great work ethic in me, but never in an overbearing way.”

Pless’ desire to take his athletic career to new heights was manifested in a strenuous training routine he adopted last summer, paying for his own athletic trainer in the Atlanta area for four sessions a week, driving an hour and a half round-trip to get there. He paid for the personal training by working full-time as a cashier at a grocery store. By the end of the summer, he says, he had boosted all of his lifts by 80 pounds.

“I think I like practicing even more than meets.”

“I’m more than willing to put in the work, and I’m really glad it’s showing results this early in my career,” he said. “But if I made All-American just once, as a senior, it would be totally worth it. I love track and field. I think I like practicing even more than meets.”

Shot Put Award Ceremony

As the champ’s head coach, Fereshetian has the honor of presenting the shot put honors, including Waldman (40 second-mark) and Pless (at the 1-minute, 20-second mark).

Click here to view the embedded video.

It was the first NCAA Championship appearance for Pless, Waldman and Murtagh, and they led the Bobcats to seventh place out of 66 scoring teams at the meet.

Pless’ crown is the sixth NCAA crown claimed by Bates in men’s indoor track and field, and the 15th in indoor and outdoor track and field combined. The team’s last NCAA championship came in 2008, when Noah Gauthier ’08 won the weight throw title.

“There are so many variables in [a shot putter's] rotation technique, but today it was just on,” said Pless. “This is a great day to be a Bobcat.”

In the first NCAA Championship appearance for all three of the Bates men at the meet, the Bobcats managed to tie with Amherst for sixth place out of 66 scoring teams at the meet, with 17 points. Bates and Amherst were the top two teams from New England at the meet.

The 6-foot-5 Pless acknowledged feeling plenty of butterflies prior to the competition, held at Capital University. “I’m really proud of myself for controlling my nervousness. I think that’s one of the best things about this,” he said. “I wanted it, and I worried about it, but I overcame that.”

Bates head coach Al Fereshetian said he was “overwhelmed” by the events of the day. “For David to pull all of that together in his first time at nationals is just amazing. He stayed composed and executed right off the bat, and from there he really got into it. And to be honest, this was a phenomenal day, but there’s more to come from him.”

Ethan Waldman ’11 joined the ranks of Bates’ All-Americans, and is just the second ever in the shot put. (File photo by Tom Leonard ’78)

Pless quickly moved to the head of the pack in his preliminary flight, with an outstanding initial put of 16.58 meters. He moved up to 16.62 on his second attempt, and on his third attempt he broke his former Bates record in the indoor shot put of 55-02.75 by going 56-6, or 17.22 meters.

Waldman competed in the second preliminary flight and all but ensured a place in the finals with a strong first attempt of 15.49 meters, which put him in eighth place at the start of the finals. In the finals he went 16.15, then 16.45 to move up two places.

“I’m extremely proud of Ethan. He has such a great, competitive nature, and it’s a big motivation for me to try to match him,” said Pless.

Pless first took up track and field in eighth grade, after getting cut from a baseball team. Enthusiasm for the sport has turned to passion since coming to Bates, he said. Having Waldman as a teammate. Waldman set the team’s seven-year-old indoor shot put record at the State Championships in February, but Pless reset the mark two weeks later.

Pless’s parents, Dana Halberg and Larry Pless, were sitting nearby as Pless spoke on the phone afterward, “crying like babies,” he said. “My parents made this happen. They’ve always pushed me to do well and instilled a great work ethic in me, but never in an overbearing way.”

Pless’s desire to take his athletic career to new heights was manifested in a strenuous training routine he adopted last summer, paying for his own athletic trainer in the Atlanta area for four sessions a week, driving an hour and a half round-trip to get there. He paid for the personal training by working full-time as a cashier at a grocery store. By the end of the summer, he says, he had boosted all of his lifts by 80 pounds.

“I’m more than willing to put in the work, and I’m really glad it’s showing results this early in my career,” he said. “But if I made All-American just once, as a senior, it would be totally worth it. I love track and field. I think I like practicing even more than meets.”

After Murtagh’s performance yesterday, Bates had 25 athletes who had won a total of 29 All-America awards in indoor track and field. Seventeen of the 29 were in the 35-pound weight throw. Bates men have also won 45 All-America honors in outdoor track and field, 23 of them in throwing events, but none in the shot put.

Pless’s crown is the sixth NCAA crown claimed by Bates in men’s indoor track and field, and the 15th in indoor and outdoor track and field combined. The team’s last NCAA championship came in 2008, when Noah Gauthier ’08 won the weight throw title.

Chris Murtagh ’11 finished fifth in the weight throw Friday for his first All-America award, and the first by any Bates athlete so far this academic year. (File photo by Tom Leonard ’78)

Friday Recap

Bates senior Chris Murtagh won his first All-America honors on Friday, placing fifth in the 35-pound weight throw at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field with a clutch performance.

Murtagh (Rowley, Mass.) stood in fifth place after his fifth throw, his second of the finals round. Two competitors passed Murtagh on their penultimate throws, but on his final effort of the season Murtagh threw the weight 19.19 meters, or 62-11.50, passing both aforementioned men and moving back into fifth place. The top eight finishers are awarded NCAA All-America honors.

Murtagh’s final distance would have been good enough for first place in the event last year.

Murtagh made the finals with his second throw of the preliminary round, at 18.65 meters. He moved up into fifth place, temporarily, with his first throw in the finals, at 19.00 meters even.

“Chris did a fantastic job of competing today, and now we get to put his plaque up on the wall in Merrill,” said Fereshetian, referring to the track and field teams’ plaques recognizing all of Bates’ All-Americans. “I think this sets him up for a great outdoor season.” Murtagh is a five-time All-NESCAC performer in outdoor track and field, including two conference javelin titles.

It is Bates’ 17th All-America performance all-time in the weight throw, and Murtagh becomes the 12th Bates man to achieve the honor. He is Bates’ first indoor All-American since Gauthier won the NCAA weight throw title in 2008 with a top throw of 63-01.50.

Live Men’s Results at NCAAs

For the second straight year, Bates received a silver-medal performance by the first varsity eight boat, while the 2V8 boat also finished higher than any other second varsity eight in the field save for Williams.

Bates 2 competed in the Petite Final, 15 minutes before the Grand Final at the Sacramento State Aquatic Center, and finished in fourth place out of six boats in a time of 7:06.02, just 2.48 seconds behind Washington College 1 for third place and ahead of the 2V8′s from Ithaca (7:10.06) and Trinity (7:13.41).

In the Grand Final, the Bates 1V8 stood in second place at every 500-meter interval of the 2,000-meter course at Lake Natoma. Bates couldn’t make up enough ground on Williams’ 1V8 in a final sprint, but like Friday’s elimination heat, the boat was able to maintain a slight lead over Williams’ 2V8 and held that boat off to keep the Ephs from sweeping the top two spots in the race. Williams 1 won in 6:43.81, followed by Bates at 6:48.66, Williams 2 at 6:49.02, Trinity 1 (6:52.94), Ithaca 1 (6:55.87) and Puget Sound 1 (7:04.43).

Bates is headed by captains Danica Doroski ’10 (Wayne, Pa.), Alison Frye ’10 (Duxbury, Mass.) and Ellen Patterson ’11 (St. Louis Park, Minn.). Other team members expected to make the trip include sophomore Haley Sive (Glenville, N.Y.), junior and two-time Pocock All-American Rebecca Waldo (Dracut, Mass.), sophomore Elizabeth Sonshine (Short Hills, N.J.), sophomore Amy Jacks (Baltimore, Md.), junior Phoebe Reed (Brooklyn, N.Y.), senior Lindsay Thomson (West Hartford, Conn.), sophomore Allison DiSalvo (Lowell, Mass.), junior Davina Dukuly (Lowell, Mass.), first-year Amanda Goss (Bainbridge Island, Wash.), sophomore Kelsey Dion (Truckee, Calif.), junior Emma White (Bainbridge Island, Wash.), junior Hannah Richardson (Concord, Mass.), first-year Catherine Tuttle (Pittsford, N.Y.). sophomore Caroline Webb (Tiburon, Calif.), junior Nora Collins (Kensington, Md.), first-year Elizabeth Bowling (Greenwood Village, Colo.), first-year Carrie Dillaway (Woodbridge, Conn.) and first-year Victoria Zapack (Charlotte, N.C.).

Doroski, Frye and Thomson plan to walk at Commencement back on campus in Lewiston Sunday morning at 10 a.m.

Friday Recap

Bates women’s rowing team’s first varsity eight fought off runner-up Williams’ 2V8 as well as rival Trinity’s 1V8 in the third and final elimination heat on Friday morning, as the NCAA Division III Women’s Rowing Championships got under way at Lake Natoma.

Bates’ 2V8 finished off the day by taking first place in the Petite Qualifier.

Bates 1V8 led Williams 2V8 by a slim margin at each 500-meter juncture of the 2,000-meter race, and both boats overtook Trinity in the second 500 meters. Bates timed in at 6:41.10, with Williams 2V8 at 6:42.02, Trinity 1V8 at 6:47.98, Wellesley 2V8 at 7:04.53, Mary Washington 1V8 at 7:12.88 and Puget Sound 2V8 sixth at 7:21.47. Three of the top four times in the preliminary heats were registered in the third heat.

Entering the championship, Bates’ 1V8 ranked fourth in Division III by the College Rowing Coaches Association/US Rowing, with Trinity at No. 3.

As the heat winner, Bates advanced automatically to the Grand Final, joining the other two heat winners, Williams 1V8 and Ithaca 1V8.

Bates’ 2V8 also fared well, taking fourth place out of five boats in Elimination Heat 2 in a time of 7:05.47, trailing only three high-quality 1V8′s in Ithaca (6:48.63), St. Lawrence (6:55.19) and Wellesley (6:55.34) and well ahead of St. Lawrence 2V8 (7:13.67). Bates 2V8 moved on to the Petite Qualifier at 3 p.m. Friday afternoon. Bates was in control throughout the race: neck-and-neck with Ithaca’s 2V8 after 500 meters, the 2V8 pulled slightly ahead at the halfway mark and extended the lead over the final 1,000 meters, finishing in 7:11.06. Ithaca 2 was second in 7:14.72, followed by Trinity 2 (7:16.64), which edged Wesleyan 2 (7:18.31) for the third and final automatic berth in Saturday’s Petite Final.