The Colby men's lacrosse team has had great success since their opening day loss to Williams back on March 13. More than three weeks later, the Mules have won five games and lost two, with the pair of losses marked by a one goal margin. The Mules have received consistent efforts from Junior All- American Craig Bunker, who for a time led the nation in face-off win percentage, and from several young players who have stepped up and become game changers.

This past weekend, Colby hosted the highly-touted and seventh ranked Middlebury College. The Midd Kids got off to a terrible start when Bunker won the opening faceoff and scored only six seconds into the game in front of a large home crowd. The goal put Colby up for the rest of the game as they held on to the lead throughtout the match. Mark Squicciarino '11 followed up a minute later with a goal of his own to send the Panthers a message. By halftime, Colby had a commanding 6-2 lead, thanks to a hat trick by first-year John Jennings and a smothering defense that did not allow a goal in the second period.

Middlebury scored three times in the third period, bookended by two Colby goals, to cut the lead to 8-5. Ian Deveau '13, scored his second goal of the game early in the forth to put Colby up by four. The Panthers made it a nail-biter for the home crowd, scoring three times in less than a minute, pulling to within one point with two and a half minutes to play. Senior goalkeeper Thomas Gianakos stopped all other Panther attempts after the scoring flurry.

This New England Small Conference Athletic Conference (NESCAC) victory came on the heels of another one goal victory for the Mules against Trinity College. Senior Patrick Briody was the hero in Hartford, Connecticut, scoring his lone goal of the game just before the end of the first overtime. Similar to the Middlebury game, Colby got off to a strong start, leading 4-0 after the first period, but the Bantams fought back to tie it up in the fourth. Jennings and Alex Boches '11 led the Mules with three and two goals, respectively.

The win at Trinity capped off their Spring Break '10 trip. The week started with losses to ninth ranked Tufts University and Union College. In both instances, Colby started strong, with a 3-1 lead over the Jumbos and a 6-1 lead over Union, before surrendering the leads and the games. Colby, however, did regain momentum with a victory over Wheaton College, 10-7. Senior captain and defenseman James Brady led the Mules on defense with six groundballs and senior Whit McCarthy had a game-high three goals for the Mules.

Before Spring Break, the Mules had two victories against non-conference teams Plymouth State University and Endicott College. Next week, the Mules have a mid-week game at Bowdoin College and host Wesleyan?University on Saturday for a 1 pm matinee.