The Bobcats celebrated eight goals, but saved the most jubilation for the final buzzer of their win over Wesleyan.

Sophomore attack Justin Simon advances the ball for Bates.

LEWISTON, Maine --The Bates College men's lacrosse team outplayed NESCAC rival Wesleyan University for an 8-4 win on Saturday, raising the Bobcats' record to 7-0 overall, 3-0 in the conference.

The Cardinals (4-1, 0-1 NESCAC), ranked ninth and 10th, respectively, in Division III by InsideLacrosse.com and LaxPower.com, suffered their first loss in their first conference game of the season.

Sophomore attack Justin Simon (Canaan, N.H.) led Bates' offense with three goals and an assist. Junior Wes Couture (South Hadley, Mass.) and sophomore Mike Medeiros (Concord, Mass.) had two goals apiece, and senior David Pritchard (Narbeth, Pa.) scored once.

Senior goalkeeper Paul Kazarian (Providence, R.I.) allowed three goals and had 11 saves.

Scoring goals for Wesleyan were sophomore Grayson Connors (Princeton Junction, N.J.), first-year Jason Ben-Eliyahu (East Setauket, N.Y.), senior Mike Walsh (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) and junior Mike Hines (Newburyport, Mass.). Junior goalkeeper Charlie Congleton (Groton, Mass.) made 18 saves in net.

Bates achieved big advantages in shots (40-22), ground balls (51-28) and faceoffs (9-5).

The Bobcats, currently ranked 16th by InsideLacrosse.com and 19th by LaxPower.com, carried a 4-2 lead into intermission, after Medeiros cashed in with a goal just 2.2 seconds before the halftime buzzer. They went up 5-2 early in the third quarter as Couture made a move around his defender at the top of the circle and scored what would become the game-winning goal.

The Cardinals answered just 36 seconds later as Mike Walsh converted Jordan Funt's (Setauket, N.Y.) second assist of the game to make it 5-3. But Simon ended a scoreless stretch of over seven minutes with a deft backward deflection of a hard Brent Morin (Hanover, N.H.) pass to regain a three-goal lead, 6-3, with seven minutes left in the third quarter.

Hines closed the gap back to two with a man-up goal off a Grayson Connors assist early in the fourth quarter, but the Cardinals were shut down for the rest of the game by a defense led by senior Ryan O'Connor (Avon, Conn.), who had a game-high seven ground balls, while Medeiros and Simon tacked on two more insurance goals.

Wesleyan hosts Western Connecticut State on Monday at 4 p.m. Bates will next play at Williams on April 1.

SCORE BY PERIOD       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------

Wesleyan University.  2  0  1  1 -  4

Bates College.......  2  2  2  2 -  8

Wesleyan University SCORING: GOALS: Grayson Connors 1; Jason Ben-Eliyahu 1; Mike Hines 1; Mike Walsh 1.

ASSISTS: Jordan Funt 2; Jason Ben-Eliyahu 1; Grayson Connors 1.

Bates College SCORING: GOALS: Justin Simon 3; Wes Couture 2; Mike Medeiros 2; David Pritchard 1.

ASSISTS: Matt Erisman 3; Brent Morin 2; Justin Simon 1.

Wesleyan University GROUND BALLS: Charlie Congleton 5; Peter Harris 4; Bob Diehl 3; Jordan Funt 3; Jason Ben-Eliyahu 2; Grayson Connors 2; Alex Kaufman 2; Spike Malagone 2; Mike Vitulano 2; Glenn Adams 1; Tom Bendon 1; Nate Byer 1; Russell Follansbee 1; Bobby Goulding 1; Zach Librizzi 1.

Bates College GROUND BALLS: Ryan O'Connor 7; Gabriel Belsky 5; Matt Erisman 4; B.J. Majeski 4; Brent Morin 4; Brenton Pitt 4; Ithai Schori 4; Justin Simon 4; John Adams 2; Amadi Cisse 2; Paul Kazarian 2; Matt Knortz 2; Mike Medeiros 2; David Pritchard 2; Craig Blake 1; Wes Couture 1; John Kinnane 1.

Wesleyan University TURNOVERS CAUSED: None.

Bates College TURNOVERS CAUSED: None.

SHOTS - Wesleyan University 22; Bates College 40.

SHOTS ON GOAL - Wesleyan University 0; Bates College 0.

PENALTIES - Wesleyan University 6/5:30; Bates College 6/4:30.

MAN-UP OPPORTUNITIES - Wesleyan University 2-6; Bates College 2-6.

TURNOVERS - Wesleyan University 0; Bates College 0.

FACEOFFS - Wesleyan University 5-14; Bates College 9-14.

CLEARS - Wesleyan University 19-9; Bates College 18-7.

GOALIES - WES: Charlie Congleton (60:00 minutes, 26 shots-18 saves, 8 GA); BAT: Peter Boston (01:00, 0-0, 0), Paul Kazarian 7-0 (59:00, 15-11, 4).

A-576 T-2:00