WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- Junior forward Mary Bucci's unassisted goal in the 16th minute stood up as the lone score of the game as the Bates College women's soccer team beat Williams on Sunday, 1-0, in the first round of the New England Small College Athletic Conference playoffs.

Bates (11-3-1, 6-3-1), the fifth seed, will play in the NESCAC semifinals on Saturday at top-seeded Tufts University, with the championship game scheduled for Sunday at noon.

Bates will face No. 2 seed Bowdoin on Saturday at 1:30 p.m., following the first semifinal between No. 1 Tufts and No. 6 Colby. Bowdoin downed Middlebury 5-1 on Sunday, while Colby advanced over No. 3 Amherst, by virtue of a 4-3 edge on penalty kicks following two scoreless overtime periods.

Bucci's (Norfolk, Mass.) goal was her third of the season, and her first since Sept. 29 at Babson.

Sophomore Nini Spalding (San Francisco) made four saves in earning the shutout. Williams' Sarah Ginsburg made five saves, as the Bobcats outshot the Ephs 9-7 overall.

The victory avenges Williams' 2-1 victory over Bates on Oct. 8, which became the tiebreaker between the teams in the playoff seedings, as both were tied for fourth place at 5-3-1.

The game was the first NESCAC playoff meeting between Bates and Williams.