By: Tom Maguire, Beat Writer Bates College Women’s Lacrosse
On a spring like day in Lewiston Maine, the Bates Bobcats Women’s Lacrosse team won a thrilling 8-7 game against the No. 9 ranked NESCAC opponent Amherst College. The victory raised the Bobcats record to 5-0, their best start since the 2001 season. The Bobcats are currently 2-0 in the NESCAC.
The Bobcats started fast as junior Kaileigh Maguire (Sudbury MA) scored on a free position at 1:30. Less than two minutes later, Maguire found senior Emma Brinkman (Rye NY) in stride for a scoring strike to give Bates a 2-0 lead. Maguire received a perfect pass from senior Alex Briody (North Kingstown, R.I.) and buried the shot for a 3-0 edge after 4:40.
The teams traded back and forth attacks for the next nine minutes until Emma Brinkman put Bates up 4-0 at 13:45 with her second goal of the half on a smart pass from senior Moriah Greenstein (Millerton, N.Y.).
After a time-out to regroup, Amherst got on the board with junior Claire Cagnassola (Summit NJ) scoring a solid goal at 16:40. Bates pushed the lead again to four goals again when sophomore Camille Belletete (Jaffrey, N.H.) scored an acrobatic goal three minutes later for a 5-1 Bates lead.
The momentum shifted to Amherst as they scored twice in the final four minutes of the half. Senior Rachel Passarelli scored on a nice spin move from behind the net for an unassisted score to make it 5-2. Less than a minute later, Cagnassola won the draw, pushed the ball down the field, and hit junior Kate Wyeth (Concord MA) to tighten the game to 5-3 at the intermission.
Four minutes into the second half, Brinkman received a nice pass from Maguire and scored while tumbling to the ground to give Bates a 6-3 lead.
Amherst continued to press with the time of possession advantage, and at 7:25, Passarelli scored again with an assist from senior Mia Haughton (Princeton NJ) to make it 6-4. Amherst pressed as Wyeth received a pass from Haughton and scored three minutes later to make it a one goal game at 6-5.
Bates increased the advantage to two goals less than a minute later as senior Alex Briody (North Kingstown, R.I.) scored on free position shot at 11:09. Amherst’s Wyeth countered with her third goal of the contest on a feed from Passarelli to make it 7-6 at 12:43.
The play was physical and intense as the game was winding down. Emma Brinkman scored a crucial goal in front of the net at 16:24 on a quick pass from junior Sydney Cowles (Wayne PA) to make it 8-6. Senior goalkeeper Christy Forrest (Madison CT) fed a pass to sophomore Mary Grace Cronin (Arlington MA) who made a nice individual effort to again bring Amherst within one (8-7) just 26 seconds later at 17:00.
With 13:00 remaining in the game, it seemed improbable this would be the final score, however the Bobcats played tight defense for the remainder of the game, denying the Amherst attacks while Bobcats’ goalie, senior Hannah Jeffrey (Greenwich CT), made three sterling saves including one in the final minute to seal the 8-7 win for the Bobcats. Jeffrey backstopped the Bobcats victory with 10 saves.
Tom Maguire, Beat Writer Bates College
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