The Colby men’s lacrosse team traveled to New London, Conn. this past Saturday, March 31 to take on the Connecticut College Camels. A definition of a “battle ’til the end,” the Mules fought into four overtimes, only to come up short in an 8-7 loss to the Camels. After 72 minutes, 36 seconds of play, Conn. College scored unassisted to end the match. The Mules fall to 2-3 overall and 1-3 in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC), while Conn. College is 3-4 overall and 2-4 in the league.

After a successful spring break with wins over Hamilton College and New England College, the Mules were ready to take on the Camels. Goaltender Peter Reiley ’14 had a great performance on the day, stopping 13 shots and coming up with six ground balls for Colby. Reiley also had two key stops in the overtime sessions.

The Mules led 7-5 after three quarters but couldn’t find the back of the net after hitting seven. The Mules seem to fall short in the final minutes of games, having been outscored 14-6 by their opponents in the fourth quarter this season. Head coach Justin Domingos remarked, “In terms of Saturday, we had several chances to win that game in regulation as well as the four OTs and did not capitalize on them.”

However, the final score of the game did not reflect the effort of the Mules on Saturday. The Mules came out strong and led 3-1 after the first quarter, with three straight tallies after the Camels had gone up 1-0. Colby defender Peter Willauer ’15 scored his first collegiate goal with co-captain Greg McKillop ’13 assisting goals by Ian Deveau ’13 and co-captain Jonathan McIvor ’12.

After the Camels scored the first two goals of the second quarter to tie it at 3-3, Jed Rooney ’13 tallied for Colby off of a pass from Garth Franklin ’13 with 7:06 remaining until intermission. McKillop scored unassisted with 4:21 left, but Conn. College’s Tyler Corcoran scored with only 18 seconds left to halftime to make it 5-4. John Jennings ’13 and Deveau both had goals in the third quarter for the Mules, and Bjorn Knutson ’13 was 13-22 in face-off chances and added a solid nine ground balls for Colby.

The Mules played the University of New England (UNE) this past Tuesday, April 3 on the Bill Alfond Field. Deveau tallied five goals and an assist as Colby pulled away from UNE, winning 15-7. McIvor added two goals and an assist in the game, while Franklin chipped in two more. Jennings, Keith Fairbrother ’13, James Wyse ’14, Scott Margolis ’12, Chip Grossman ’15 and Ian Boldt ’14 added a goal apiece.

The Mules will host a double-header this coming weekend, playing 20th-ranked Wesleyan University on Saturday, April 7, and 25th-ranked Trinity College on Sunday, April 8. The Mules are currently ranked 33rd in the nation.