Bates men’s lacrosse coach Peter Lasagna understands why last Saturday’s 15-12 win over Wesleyan, the defending NCAA Division III champion, was perceived as an upset.

But the formula for that NESCAC win up in Lewiston, Maine, was quite simple. All-American attackman Matt Chlastawa had a monster day with five goals, five assists and four ground balls. Meanwhile, the Bobcats held the Cardinals to three goals in the first half, then survived a fourth-quarter rally.

“I honestly can't remember a time in 19 years of coaching that we've ever done that,” Lasagna said. “That was pretty extraordinary.”

That result, which was followed by a 20-8 win Tuesday over Commonwealth Coast Conference powerhouse Western New England, has Bates flying high. It also brings up memories of the 2017 campaign, when the Bobcats went 16-0 through the regular season, then were upset early in both the NESCAC and NCAA tournaments.

It was a magical year, as Lasagna called it, one in which six players earned All-American honors and Bates scored 17.17 goals per game.

“We should have at least made it one more round,” Lasagna said. “That team had the goods — we had everything — to win it all.”

As those disappointments settled in, Bates went 8-8 and lost to Wesleyan in the NESCAC quarterfinals in 2018. That recalibrated the group, Lasagna said, and made them realize what’s given and earned.

“The kids who are juniors now, what they experienced as freshman lacrosse players was, this is fun and easy. You go through the NESCAC undefeated, you host a couple NCAA tournament games and you end up almost going to the final four,” Lasagna said. “No, man. It's really, really hard to do all those things, and you have to work incredibly hard to earn that.”

That hard work started last summer, carried through the fall and winter, then into an opening 14-12 loss to RIT on Feb. 23. It was the earliest game for any NESCAC team, but also one that provided a glimpse of the level Bates could play at this spring.

The pieces seem to be there, too. There’s star defenseman Rocco Fantoni, Mitchell Drake and Rob Strain splitting goalie duties, and Chlastawa leading the offense.

Chlastawa is listed at 5-foot-7 and 175 pounds, yet he has an astounding 213 points through 39 career games.

“I couldn't be happier that Division I coaches didn't give him the thought he probably merited,” Lasagna said.

They certainly are now, though, and maybe — just maybe — Bates has a formula to rival that 2017 group.

“I've been at this for a while,” Lasagna said, “and in my experience, often if you have the right people, the year after a disappointment can be some of the most fun and rewarding and enjoyable teams. We’ll see.”

F&M’s special visit

When Franklin & Marshall travelled to New Rochelle, N.Y., last Saturday for a neutral-site game against Messiah, the focus naturally was on the task at hand.

And the Diplomats took care of business, winning 21-16 ahead of facing Amherst and Denison in this weekend’s annual Mustang Classic at Stevenson. But the trip, for a program from Lancaster, Pa., also afforded some valuable time away from the Xs and Os.

The Centennial Conference program visited the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in lower Manhattan. Coach Todd Cavallaro said it was a valuable experience, especially since most of the F&M players age 18 to 22 were toddlers on that tragic day.

“They've heard so many stories about that day and the aftermath of everything,” Cavallaro said. “To see it firsthand, it lets you have a better understanding and puts a lot in perspective. We talked about when life gets tough, you have to take a deep breath, look around and make the most of it. Be happy. Things could always be worse.”

F&M has recovered from a season-opening 11-8 loss to Lynchburg on Feb. 16. with four straight wins to crawl back up the national rankings.

“We wanted to dissect each quarter and play as well as we can for five minutes, reset, play as well as we can for another five minutes,” Cavallaro said. “If we do that three times each quarter, we'll be good.”

Leading that charge has been an attack trio of Luke Keating, Kevin Mollihan and Blake Target that’s combined for 71 points. Out of midfield, seniors George Briggs and Tucker McBride are both studs, while the defense is anchored by four-year starter Tommy O’Connor and Scott Hatch in goal.

Cavallaro said the Diplomats are a work in progress — most teams are this early in the season — but they’re starting to find their way.

“It’s OK for us to make one mistake, maybe two mistakes,” Cavallaro said. “Then you have to tighten your bootstraps and make sure you make those negatives into five or six positives from that point moving forward.”

Amherst’s true strength might be at SSDM

Much has been made about Amherst’s attack this year. It’s hard not to fawn over the experienced group led by Colin Minicus, Jon Coffey and Evan Wolf, the reigning NESCAC Player of the Year.

But the strength of the 3-0 Mammoths might be in midfield, namely at the short-stick spot. Just ask coach Jon Thompson, whose perspective on the position changed several years back while on the recruiting trail.

“All of a sudden I started looking at these multi-sport athletes in high school and everybody would say, all these high school coaches, that he's really good between the lines,” Thompson said. “I'd roll my eyes at them. Then we started getting some of them on campus who fit that profile and they started producing.”

“We actively tried to start recruiting more, quote on quote, between-the-lines guys,” Thompson added. “Man, they've panned out for us. Just in terms of projections from high school to college, those are the guys who really pan out.”

Amherst has an embarrassment of riches at SSDM this year, too.

It starts with junior Jimmy McAfee, an All-American in 2018. There’s also senior Andrew Ford, who’s returning from injury and was an All-American in 2017. In the freshman class, Amherst has Chase Yager, who Thompson said is going to be the “next one.”

“We have one in every class and in some cases two,” Thompson said of the SSDMs. “In terms of our recruiting capital, we spent quite a bit of time and resources on that position because we think it's the most important position on our team.”

Another era of focus has been the offensive midfielders.

Look no further than junior Matt Solberg, also an All-American. He had a ridiculous four goals and six assists in last weekend’s 22-9 NESCAC win over Bowdoin. There’s also sophomore Ethan Kazmierski, who has five goals on the year.

“Teams could go back and forth to see which one they want to pole,” Thompson said. “You have to focus on our attack, but all of a sudden these other two guys can make you pay if either don't slide to them, or you do slide and now all of a sudden some guys who are attackmen can finish.”

In other words, don’t just watch Amherst’s attack this year. Those middies are pretty darn good themselves.

RPI a contender in Liberty League

RIT has won the Liberty League every year since joining the conference in 2012, when the Tigers came over from the Empire 8.

But don’t forget about RPI. At least early on, the Engineers are proving to be a legitimate threat to RIT’s reign. They’re off to a 5-0 to start under first-year coach Scott Hackett-Dalgliesh.

As put by Hackett-Dalgliesh, most recently an assistant at Division I Dartmouth, he wasn’t taking over a program in a tailspin. Longtime coach Jim Townsend left things in a good place this offseason.

“This program wasn't a hooptie,” he said. “It wasn't a beat-up old car going down the road. There’s a history of success here.”

But minor changes were also needed, Hackett-Dalgliesh said.

The new coaching staff has worked with the team on leadership, dividing the collective into four different squads with leaders underneath the captains. They’ve also worked with a program called Lacrosse Mindset and instilled simple systems that allow players to be creative on the field.

With his players, Hackett-Dalgliesh has drilled home focusing most on themselves and treating every opponent as if it’s a chief rival. So far, so good.

“We talk about stacking up plus-ones,” Hackett-Dalgliesh said. “We have to keep elevating our competitiveness, our level of play, our execution. There's no question about it. We can't be the same team in late April and hopefully into May that we are right now. Everyone is going to keep getting better, and we have to do the same.”

RPI is allowing just 7.6 goals per game and have four double-digit scorers.

“It's been really fun watching these guys come together, play together and feed off of each other,” Hackett-Dalgliesh said.