Thomas	Gross
Radis	Maciewicz
Saucier	Krueger

LEWISTON, Maine -- No. 3 Colby College broke away from a 4-3 deficit with seven straight goals in the first half en route to an 18-12 NESCAC women's lacrosse victory over Bates College in the regular-season finale for both teams on Friday night.

Despite the loss, the host Bobcats (8-7, 3-6) earned the sixth seed in the upcoming NESCAC Championship, and will play at third-seeded Middlebury on Sunday in the conference quarterfinals.

The Mules finish 13-1 overall and 8-1 in the NESCAC and earn the second seed in the conference playoffs. They'll host Wesleyan on Sunday in the quarterfinals.

First-year Joan O'Neill (Westwood, Mass.) led the Bates offense with three goals and one assist, while senior Caroline Thomas (Barrington, R.I.) also tallied three goals. Sophomore Briana Gross (Andover, Mass.) scored twice, and junior Morgan Maciewicz (Marblehead, Mass.), junior Molly Radis (Peaks Island, Maine) and Abby Saucier (Yarmouth, Maine) each had one goal and one assist. Sophomore Mara Krueger (St. Louis, Mo.) made nine saves in goal for Bates.

Becky Julian scored four goals for Colby and Claire Donegan added two goals and five assists. Heather Nickerson collected three goals and two assists, and Amy Campbell and Caroline Atwater both notched hat tricks as well. Sarah Warnke made seven saves in net for the Mules.

Saucier scored an unassisted goal with 13:37 left in the first half to complete a 3-0 Bates run that put the Bobcats ahead 4-3. But Colby responded less than a minute later as Donegan fed Nickerson to even the game at 4-4, beginning a crucial 7-0 run that finished out the half, putting Colby on top 10-4 at the break.

Bates outscored Colby 4-0 over the first 11 minutes of the second half to close the gap to 10-8. Thomas scored twice in the run and Gross finished it off with an unassisted tally. Colby reeled off three straight in a span of 94 seconds, giving the Mules more breathing room at 13-8 with 17:29 to go. Radis scored unassisted to close it to 13-9, but again answered with three straight, including two in a row by Atwater, to make it 16-9 with 7:11 left in the game. The Mules extended their lead to 18-10 before Bates closed the gap in the final two minutes with goals by Thomas and O'Neill.

STATS: Colby 18, Bates 12

2009 NESCAC Women's Lacrosse Championship

Sunday, April 26 at Higher Seeds at 12:00 p.m.

Quarterfinal Games

No. 8 Amherst at No. 1 Tufts

No. 7 Wesleyan at No. 2 Colby

No. 6 Bates at No. 3 Middlebury

No. 5 Williams at No. 4 Trinity

 

Saturday, May 2 at Highest Remaining Seed

Semifinals - game times at 12:00 p.m. and 2:30 p.m.

Highest remaining seed vs. lowest remaining seed

Remaining first round winners

 

Sunday, May 3

Final - 12:00 pm

Semifinal winners