AMHERST, Mass. – The No. 9 Amherst College men's lacrosse team used a five-goal effort from Chris Albanese '17, and the Purple & White scored nine goals in the first quarter to help secure a 17-12 victory over No. 10 Bowdoin College in Sunday afternoon's NESCAC and season opener at Pratt Field at Lehrman Stadium. With the win Amherst starts its season 1-0 overall, 1-0 in league play, while Bowdoin begins its campaign 0-1 on the season, 0-1 in NESCAC action. Amherst returns to action Tuesday, March 7 when it travels to Western New England University for a 7 p.m. tilt with the Golden Bears. Amherst got off to a fast start as Matt Killian '17 fired the Purple & White into the lead just 28 seconds into the contest. Albanese then added his first of the game following a feed from Evan Wolf '19 one minute later. Wolf the scored his first of the game to give the hosts a 3-0 lead. Bowdoin notched its only goal of the first stanza at the 8:19 mark as Brett Kujala scored on a pass from Matthew Crowell to make it 3-1. Albanese answered with two more markers following passes from Connor Sheehan '18 and Colin Minicus '20, while Killian scored following a faceoff feed from Dylan Finazzo '20 to make it 6-1 with 7:18 to play in the opening period. Minicus then added a pair of unassisted goals, while Albanese logged his fourth score of the quarter with 26 seconds left to give the Purple & White a commanding, 9-1 advantage. The Polar Bears scored four of the first five goals of the second quarter as Crowell scored a man-up goal on a pass from Tim Bulens, before Bulens found the back of the net himself to make it 9-3 at the 10:17 mark. Albanese then struck for his fifth of the game (assisted by Brogan Mahon '19), before Bulens and Kajala registered back-to-back markers for Bowdoin to make it 10-5 with 3:08 on the clock. Minicus then netted a goal following a dish from Wolf, before Andrew Ford '19 added the team's 12th score to make it 12-5. Drew Hillman registered the final tally of the first half for the Polar Bears, finding the back of the net with just 23 ticks on the clock to make it 12-6 at intermission. In the third quarter, Amherst edged Bowdoin, 3-2 in goals as Jack Norton '19 found nylon three times for the Purple & White with the help of Sam Chen '17, Minicus and Ian Kadish '18. Shawn Daly logged an unassisted goal, while Crowell scored unassisted while the Polar Bears were down a player to help make it 15-8 after three quarters. Bowdoin scored three of the first goals in the fourth stanza to make it 16-11 as Alex Osgood scored, while Daly added two goals (assisted by Crowell and Kujala respectively). Norton added his fourth tally of the contest midway through the frame, while Wolf helped seal it with a goal at the 1:50 mark to make it 17-11. With just under a minute to play, Kujala delivered the final goal of the game on a feed from Jimmy Young to set the final score at 17-12.