LEWISTON, Maine -- The Bates and Williams men's soccer teams exchanged goals in the first five minutes, then went collectively scoreless over the next 105 minutes, settling for a 1-1 draw in NESCAC action on Saturday afternoon at Russell Street Field.

The tie puts Williams (7-5-2, 5-3-1 NESCAC) in fourth place in the NESCAC, with one game left in the regular season. 

Bates (4-8-2, 2-6-1 NESCAC) is currently in 10th place, one point behind Colby and Trinity, who are tied for eighth. The Bobcats may yet claim a berth in next weekend's eight-team NESCAC Championship tournament if they can defeat Colby on Wednesday at 8pm, under the lights at Garcelon Field. Bates would also need Connecticut College to lose its finale against Wesleyan, and/or a Trinity loss or tie against Amherst on Wednesday.

Only 39 seconds into Saturday's game, Williams' Malcolm Moutenot sent a cross into the Bates penalty area that Chris Conder reached and sent past Bates goalie Sam Polito.

But Bates responded quickly, in the fifth minute. A free kick from midfield was headed out of the Ephs' box by Williams' Noah Grumman, but to Bates first-year forward Nate Merchant. The freshman standout sent a well-struck volley past the reach of Williams goalie Christian Alcorn for the game-tying goal. Merchant is now tied for second on the team with classmate Max Watson, with four goals in nine games played.

The Ephs had their chances to break the draw over the remainder of the half, most notably during a sequence of four corner kicks half an hour into the match. On the first of those corners, Polito came off his line but could only deflect Zach Grady's cross straight to Luke Pierce. The Eph's shot was hard and on-target, but Polito recovered just in time to make an impressive save. Moments later, the Bates goalie again rose to the occasion by snagging a header from JC Bahr-de Stefano out of the air to quell the Williams attack.

In the second half, the Bobcats came out strong and at times outplayed the Ephs, as sophomore forward Peabo Knoth (Portland, Maine) left the Williams back line with its hands full. Knoth's most dangerous chance came in the 78th minute, when he weaved his way around three Williams players before firing a shot that Alcorn parried high into the air, with Knoth's potential follow-up snuffed out by a foul call on Bates.