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BRUNSWICK — The Bowdoin men’s lacrosse team played its last home game of the season on Sunday, and its seniors wanted to make a statement.

By punching a ticket to the NCAA Division III quarterfinals with a 16-5 win over New England Small College Athletic Conference rival Amherst, they did just that.

Bowdoin (15-3) will face Christopher Newport (18-3) in the quarterfinals on Saturday in Medford, Massachusetts.

The Polar Bears advance to the quarterfinals in back-to-back seasons for the first time in program history. This is the team’s third time advancing past the third round in four seasons under coach Bill Mason.

“We really wanted to go on a high note on this field and earn another week together, so I think doing that in this fashion, winning by 11, really set the tone,” senior attacker Jason Lach said. “I think the biggest thing is just being together for another week, but we’ve been there before. Now we have experience, so I think we’re looking to do a lot of special things.”

Five players scored multiple goals for Bowdoin, including senior attackers Jason Lach and Patrick Fitzgerald, who had four each. Sophomore attacker Casey Ryan recorded seven assists. Bowdoin led by as much 13 and held Amherst (11-6) scoreless until the third quarter.

The Polar Bears raced out to a 5-0 lead after the first quarter and a 10-0 lead at halftime. Bowdoin led by 12 before Max Youssefnia scored Amherst’s first goal with 9:59 remaining in the third quarter. Bob Gross led the Mammoth with two goals.

“I play behind the best defense in the country,” said senior goalie Robert Hobbs, who finished with 12 saves. “I mean, they came out and got into their flow state, and they were playing so well, communicating, (Amherst) really didn’t have any legit opportunity on us in that first half. So, all I had to do was my job, nothing more than that.”

The Bowdoin defense caused nine turnovers and had a 36-17 ground ball advantage. Amherst was 0 for 4 on extra-man opportunities.

Mason credited the home-field advantage and the fact that his starters had few extra rest after Saturday’s 28-3 drubbing of Rivier, while adding his team had extra motivation from its regular-season loss to Amherst.

“We had some really unselfish play,” Mason said. “We moved some positions around. Jason Lach was dodging out of the box, that’s the first time he’s done that all year, which I think threw them off a little bit…We’ve got a lot of good shooters out there, but just looking for the best shot for Bowdoin (was the goal). We found some really good shots, and I thought they had some good goaltending, and we were able to just get the best shots. I think our transition helped to free some hands too.”

Sophomore midfielder Huck Trafton and freshman midfielder Cormac Walsh each had a hat trick. Sophomore attacker Chris Berry added a pair of goals.

Mitch Likins saved 17 shots and Brooks Catlin saved four for the Mammoths.

“That’s an explosive team, and if you give them an inch, they’ll take a mile,” Amherst coach Sean Woods said. “They’re super well coached. They capitalize on mistakes, and because of our mistakes early, a good team like that is going to go on those runs …

“That team has a really good chance to win a national championship because of the way that they play.”

Multiple individual records were broken on Sunday. In the first quarter, Hobbs broke the program record of 917 career saves set by Will Casella in 2000. Hobbs now has 928. In the fourth quarter, Lach became the first Bowdoin player ever to score 200 career goals. Fitzgerald isn’t far behind with 199.

“It’s really fun,” Ryan said. “I mean, I love throwing these guys the ball. It’s the best part of my day, every day. (They’re) great finishers, and I think we’ve worked a lot on letting the ball flow around, and you can kind of see it. Last game we had 13 goal scorers, this game we have five guys with multiple goals. Just sharing (will keep the offensive momentum going). Sharing the love, sharing the wealth and having fun.”