It was a wild weekend for the men’s lacrosse team as the Cards played two games at the Birdcage in 24 hours, beating Bates College 7-6 in overtime on Saturday and defeating Bowdoin 7-3 in the first round of the NESCAC Tournament on Sunday.

The Bates game had significant implications for the NESCAC Tournament seeding, as a win combined with a Middlebury win over top-ranked Tufts would leave the Cards with the number one seed and the honor of hosting the NESCAC Tournament.

Just two minutes into the first period, tri-captain Mike Hines ’07 opened up the scoring for Wesleyan with an unassisted, left-handed laser past Bates goalie Will Paddock. Bates responded to Hines’s goal with three goals in the first quarter, while Jason Ben-Eliyahu ’09 brought the score to 3-2 with a goal before the end of the period.

In the middle of the second quarter, Bates held the largest lead of the game, 4-2, before Hines found the back of the net once again off an assist from attackman Jon Killeen ’10. A behind-the-back, slam-dunk goal from Killeen along with another goal from Ben-Eliyahu tied the score 5-5 heading into the fourth quarter.

Frustrated with his lack of production over the past few games, Killeen finally scored a goal, and he did so aggressively, which proved to be the deciding factor in Wesleyan’s victory.

“Jon ‘Hollybook Textwood’ Killeen really established himself today,” said defenseman Nate Green ’09. “There’s no doubt he’s going to have an important role on the team for years to come.”

Bates midfielder Craig Blake scored with 6:12 left in the fourth to give Bates a one-goal lead. After several acrobatic saves from goalie Charlie Congleton ’07, Killeen handled a pass from midfielder Chris Jasinski ’08 and beat Paddock on a stick fake tying the game at six goals a piece. In the final six minutes of play, the Wesleyan defense shined, stopping several close-calls by Bates’ strong attack unit.

“Charlie [Congleton] played like the All-American he is today,” said Jeff Strittmatter ’09. “Without him stopping almost every shot he faced in the fourth quarter, we absolutely would not have won this game.”

Fifty seconds into overtime, a familiar scene began to unfold. As he has all season, last week’s NESCAC player of the week Russ Follansbee ’09 took control of the game and dictated the tempo of the final period. Taking his defenseman to the X-spot behind the net, Follansbee stutter-stepped toward the crease. Curling around the goal, Follansbee swung a pass to Killeen, who was wide-open on the doorstep. Putting away his third goal of the game, the entire bench squad flattened Killeen in elation.

“Slipping slots [scoring goals] is not an easy thing to learn and an even harder thing to master,” said middie Dan Latzman ’09. “But it was high time that Killeen popped his proverbial cherry and had a big day for us.”

Killeen paced the Cardinal offense with five points, while Congleton finished with nine saves for the game.

While the cheers would ring in the CFA for more than half an hour after the game, many Wesleyan laxers turned their attention to the internet feed of the Tufts-Middlebury game that began at 1 p.m. on Saturday. If Middlebury won the game then Wesleyan would host its first ever NESCAC tournament. If Tufts won, the tournament would be in Boston. The Cards would have the same NESCAC-record as Tufts, but the Jumbos held the tie-break advantage because they defeated Wesleyan 9-6 earlier in the season. However, the Jumbos topped the Panthers in overtime, leaving the Cards with a first-round game against Bowdoin the following day.

Ready to compete and not wanting to surrender another early lead, the Cards peppered Bowdoin’s goalie with shots in the first quarter. Fourteen shots on net translated into a 4-1 first-quarter lead on goals from Killeen, Hines, and midfielders Lonnie Blumenthal ’10 and Adam Kirk ’09.

Wesleyan’s offense spurted due to indecision and too many errant shots in the second quarter, as the Cards were held scoreless. The defense, however, was tenacious and efficient. Short stick defensive middies Jeff McLaren ’06 and Kwasi Ansu ’09 roamed the field, scooping up countless groundballs and thwarting every Bowdoin attempt to isolate and dodge. Ansu had three monster hits in the first half, including one that sent a Bowdoin midfielder flying backwards in blurred confusion. McLaren drove down the field starting fast breaks all day. Almost costing the Cards a possession just before the half, Ansu stumbled over the midfield line while attempting to stay on-sides. Although none of the referees saw this, the fans in attendance enjoyed the awkward collapse.

After the half, the Cards put the game out of reach, increasing the score to 6-1 in the third period on goals from Grayson Connors ’08 and midfielder Dan Latzman ’09. In the fourth period, Connors gave the Cards an insurance goal with 6:14 to play, which left Wesleyan victorious for the second time this past weekend. Congleton again proved to be a cement wall with 10 saves on the day.

This Friday, the lacrosse team heads to Boston for a semifinal match-up with Williams College, a team the Cards beat easily earlier in the season. Should Wesleyan defeat Williams on Saturday, the Cards would face the winner of a second Tufts-Middlebury game, also scheduled for Saturday. Looking beyond NESCACs, the Cards hope to win it all and get the automatic NCAA bid that comes with winning the conference title. If this does not happen, they will have to hope for a pool C at-large bid, which they’ve received in each of the past two seasons in which they have come in second place in the NESCAC.