The Amherst men’s lacrosse team suffered a hard fought loss to Middlebury this past weekend in Vermont. They trailed by as many as seven points during the game, but clawed back in the final minutes to come within three goals of the Panthers.

Middlebury kicked off the scoring with three quick goals in the first quarter. Senior Kane Haffey interrupted this initial run on an assist from first-year attacker Evan Wolf. At the end of the first quarter, Amherst trailed 4-1.

The next three periods saw a flurry of action, including a goal courtesy of first-year Evan Wolf off sophomore Ian Kadish’s assist in the middle of the second period to tie the score at 4-4.

The Panthers commanded the rest of play going into halftime, grabbing onto a 9-4 lead over the purple and white. A hat-trick in the second period by Middlebury’s Jack Rautiola shifted the momentum back in the home team’s favor.

In the third period, it looked as if Amherst’s fate was sealed as Middlebury took a commanding 14-7 lead. A pair of goals by Quinn Moroney ’16 with assists from Dylan Park ’16 managed to keep the purple and white in reach for a fourth-quarter battle.

With 10 minutes left on the clock, Amherst gave the Panthers a serious scare as they went on a tremendous four-goal run in just four minutes. Park scored two more goals to bring the deficit to five. These were followed by goals from Haffey and junior Brian O’Malley in the team’s effort to come back from the heavy deficit.

Time was not on Amherst’s side however, and after a six-minute drought, Amherst fell to Middlebury. Next they take on NESCAC rival Wesleyan in Middletown, Connecticut on Wednesday, April 6, at 7 p.m. The purple and white then will face Colby at home on Saturday, April 9 at 1 p.m. They will finish their week’s slate at Connecticut College on Tuesday, April 12 at 4:30 p.m.