LEWISTON, Maine -- Ben Preston scored three goals and assisted on another, and Mickey Zaverucha made 19 saves to lead Trinity College to an 8-7 NESCAC victory over the Bates men's lacrosse team in the Bobcats' home opener on Saturday at Garcelon Field.

Trinity (1-3, 1-2 NESCAC) scored its first victory of the young season and kept the host Bobcats (1-3, 0-3 NESCAC) in search of their first conference win.

The Bantam defense, anchored by Zaverucha, was effective all game long in keeping Bates attackers from penetrating the interior, compelling Bates to take most of its shots from the outside perimeter.

Bates outshot Trinity by a 58-27 margin, including a 26-16 advantage in shots on goal. The Bobcats also won 13 of 18 faceoffs, with junior Mac Jackson (Hood River, Ore.) winning 5 of 7 and senior captain Paul Donovan (Norwell, Mass.) winning 8 of 11, and scooped 44 ground balls to Trinity's 27.

Junior Conor Henrie (Lexington, Mass.) and sophomore Jack Allard (Ridgewood, N.J.) scored two goals apiece for Bates, while junior captain Jack Strain (Montclair, N.J.) contributed one goal, one assist and five ground balls.

Henrie's goal on an assist by junior Evan Chen (Katonah, N.Y.) with 2:26 left in the second quarter tied the game at 3-3, and was the only tally for either team over a 16-minute span of the game clock.

The Bantams broke the tie with 8:24 left in the third quarter, when Preston scored his third goal of the game, finishing off an extended possession with an unassisted score. Trinity defensive midfielder Robert Stiefler then made it a two-goal game for the first time in the afternoon, finding an shooting alley on the outside of Bates' defense and ripping an outside shot by Bates senior goalie Charlie Kazarian (Providence, R.I.) to make it 5-3.

Bates won the ensuing faceoff and cut the difference back to one with a goal by Allard with 3:37 to go in the third. Zaverucha saved a shot by Bates senior Wylie Leabo (Belmont, Mass.) with under two minutes to play in the period, and out of a timeout, Seth Bird scored unassisted to make it 6-4. The score remained there for the start of the fourth quarter, with Bates misfiring on three shots on an extra-man advantage over the final 58 seconds of the third.

Just before the third period ended, Trinity took possession off of a Bates turnover with a ground-ball pickup by Charles Finnegan. The Bantams cleared the ball to open the fourth quarter, and 17 seconds into the period, Preston's cross-zone pass to Michael Lofrese led to a low laser by Lofrese for his only goal of the game, giving Trinity a three-goal lead for the first time.

Bates was forced to play catch-up for the rest of the game, but was poised to do so. A goal by Gilkeson, assisted by Strain, ended a long Bobcat possession and closed the gap to 7-5 with 11:13 to go. 

Zaverucha deflected a shot by Bates junior Steven Hild (West Hartford, Conn.) out of bounds, but on a quick restart, sophomore Charlie Hildebrand (Berwyn, Pa.) found a cutting Allard to suddenly cut the deficit to 7-6 with 8:36 left in the game.

With 6:20 left, Zaverucha rejected an Allard shot. Allard stole Zaverucha's outlet pass and quickly sent the ball into Trinity's goal, but the would-be game-tying score was called off and Allard was instead assessed a delay-of-game penalty. With 4:04 to go, Trinity's Dan Badolato gained possession of the ball after a missed shot by Chen, and after two Bantam misfires, Chase Growney converted a Terence Olsen assist for a huge insurance goal, making it 8-6 with 2:27 to go in the game.

Bates kept the pressure on, however, getting exactly what it needed when Donovan won the ensuing faceoff, scooped the ground ball and dished to Strain to close the gap to 8-7 just six seconds on the heels of Growney's tally.

Donovan again won possession on the next faceoff and Bates called timeout with 1:53 left. Out of the timeout, Allard shot wide from a tight angle, then Zaverucha made the save of hte game with 1:05 left in the game, stopping Strain from close range as he attempted to find the top of the cage. Trinity called timeout and then went a man up on Bates with a tripping call against first-year Fred Ulbrick (Fairfield, Conn.) with 28 seconds left in the game.

Bates sophomore defender David Cappellini (Manhasset, N.Y.) forced a turnover by Trinity's Matthew Hauck (two assists) in the closing seconds of the game, and the Bobcats called timeout with 8.5 seconds left on the clock. Trinity's defense kept the Bobcats from getting the shot they wanted, and Allard's desperate attempt in the last second sailed high to end the game.

Bates sophomore defender Ken O'Friel (Scarsdale, N.Y.) caused a game-high three turnovers and tied for the team lead in ground balls, with five.

Bates hosts Husson on Wednesday at 7pm.