WATERVILLE, Maine -- Colby College earned the eighth and final spot in the New England Small College Athletic Conference playoffs after defeating the Bates women's soccer team 2-1 in the regular season finale for both teams on Wednesday afternoon.

The game had a playoff atmosphere, with Colby needing a win to advance and Bates needing a win or a tie to move on. 

The Mules (7-7-1 overall, 3-6-1 NESCAC) earned the eighth seed and will play at top-seeded Williams College on Saturday in a league quarterfinal game at 12:30 p.m. 

Bates finishes the 2014 season with a 7-8 record, including a 3-7 mark in NESCAC play, and can take pride in the fact that it won its most games since the 2006 season.

It was the final game in the Bates soccer uniform for senior captain Nicki Brill (Westport, Conn.), captain Dakota Donovan (Marblehead, Mass.), Emily Johnson (Essex, Vt.), Alex Millstrom (Melrose, Mass.) and Alyssa Morgosh (Carlsbad, Calif.).

Emily Martin's first collegiate goal at 33:21 of the first half broke a 1-1 tie. With a wet field because of a drizzly rain, Martin's shot from about 35 yards out on the left side managed to skip past a group of players and Bates first-year goalie Sarah McCarthy (Rockville Centre, N.Y.) and into the right corner of the net. The play started off a throw-in by Maddie Tight, who recorded her team-best fifth assist.

Bates had a 6-2 shot advantage and a 5-4 corner kick margin in the second half. However, Martin teamed up with Emma Marjollet, Emilie Klein, and Nora Mabie to keep the Bobcats scoreless the rest of the day. 

Colby goalkeeper Emily Brook, the NESCAC leader in saves per game, had four stops. McCarthy made three saves for Bates.

The Bobcats went ahead 1-0 at 15:18 when first-year Libby Masalsky's (Dedham, Mass.) cross went in front of the Colby goal. First-year forward Julia Rosen (Springfield, Ill.), with a defender near her, managed to poke the ball with her foot and into the left corner of the goal past a diving Brook. Rosen finished her first year with five goals and four assists.

Colby's Cami Notaro scored her team-best sixth goal of the season when she made a steal just past midfield, dribbled a good distance, and smacked a hard, bouncing shot from about 22 yards out that skidded up and over the diving McCarthy.

Both teams had 12 shots in the game and the Mules had a 9-5 advantage in corner kicks.