Caroline Thomas '09 scored her 12th goal and added her fifth assist of the season.

AMHERST, Mass. -- Despite two goals from first-year Briana Gross, the Bates College women's lacrosse team lost 8-4 to Amherst College in a NESCAC matchup on Saturday. The host Lord Jeffs stayed unbeaten at 5-0 overall and 2-0 in the NESCAC, while Bates falls to 1-3 overall and 0-2 in conference play.

Gross (Andover, Mass.) scored her fourth and fifth goals of the season to lead the offense for the Bobcats (1-3, 0-2 NESCAC). Junior Caroline Thomas (Barrington, R.I.) scored a goal and an assist and sophomore Morgan Maciewicz (Marblehead, Mass.) collected two assists. First-year Abby Saucier (Yarmouth, Maine) added her first collegiate goal.

First-year goalie Mara Krueger (St. Louis, Mo.) had nine saves for Bates, which next plays a non-league game at the University of New England on Thursday, March 27 at 4:30 p.m.

Bates jumped out to an early lead when Gross scored an unassisted goal just three minutes and eight seconds into the contest, but Amherst responded with three goals in a span of less than six minutes to take a 3-1 lead. Sophomore Tyler Tory-Murphy tied things up at 1-1 before senior Maddie Hoeg recorded consecutive unassisted goals to put her team ahead by two.

The Bobcats responded with Gross's second tally of the game, this time with an assist going to Maciewicz. Abby Saucier tied things up at 3-3 at the 17:12 mark, but Hoeg answered just 28 seconds later with her third unassisted goal of the day.

After picking up the assist on Tory-Murphy's goal, Mary Noonan increased the Jeffs' lead to two goals before Amy Craig closed out the scoring in the first half with an unassisted tally, as the Jeffs headed into the break with a 6-3 lead.

The second half saw only three goals between the two teams, with Bates once again striking first. Caroline Thomas scored 16 minutes into the frame to go along with the assist she picked up on Saucier's goal. Hoeg once again had an answer, as she found the back of the net just 52 seconds later for her fourth goal of the game. Craig picked up the assist on the game's final goal, with first-year Robyn Lightner closing out the scoring to give Amherst an 8-4 lead it would hang on to the rest of the way.

BOX SCORE: Amherst 8, Bates 4