LEWISTON, Maine -- Williams College scored four unanswered goals over a 28-minute span that began late in the second quarter, pulling away from a 5-5 tie then holding off Bates College's late rally for a 9-7 NESCAC men's lacrosse victory Saturday at Garcelon Field.

Bates dropped to 2-4 overall and 0-4 in NESCAC play, in spite of an advantage in shots attempted (37-26) and shots on goal (17-13).

The Ephs (5-1, 3-1 NESCAC) won their fifth straight, despite having only played one home game thus far, and no games at their true home field.

Jack Lauroesch scored the go-ahead goal for Williams with 2:00 left in the second quarter, and he also tallied the Ephs' eighth goal, or the eventual game-winner. Steven Kiesel also scored twice and Bryson Gilbert-Bono tallied two assists for Williams. David Lee won 13 of 18 faceoffs for Williams and scooped a game-high nine ground balls. Dan Whittam made 10 saves for the Ephs, and Ryan Hamilton had three caused turnovers and five ground balls.

Bates sophomore Jack Allard (Ridgewood, N.J.) had three goals and one assist for a game-high four points, while first-year Kyle Weber (Chagrin Falls, Ohio) added two scores. Bates sophomore defender Ken O'Friel (Scarsdale, N.Y.) had his first two career points with a goal and an assist. Sophomore defender Colby Spehler (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.) had a team-high five ground balls and two caused turnovers.

Bates took the first lead of the game halfway through the first quarter, as junior Tucker White's (Burlington, Vt.) short-range flip to Weber set up an outside rip by the freshman on the right wing for 1-0 lead.

After a Bates turnover, Conor Roddy scored from a Joe Kinney assist to even the game with 5:10 to go, and Kiesel made it 2-1 less than two minutes later on an assist by Gilbert-Bono.

The Bobcats finished out the quarter with a wide outside shot by junior Jack Strain (Montclair, N.J.), followed by a point-blank save by Whittam on an Allard drive, preserving a 2-1 lead for the Ephs after one period.

Kiesel scored his second straight to open the scoring on a wild second quarter, which featured half of the game's 16 goals. Allard followed a nifty ground-ball pickup with a brilliant underhanded shot that skimmed over three Williams sticks and tucked under the crossbar to close the gap to 3-2.

But Williams' Eric Kelly regained the two-goal edge with an outside angle shot that bounced its way into the net for a 4-2 score with 8:16 to go in the second. The Ephs then made it a 4-1 run one minute later, as Duncan Cummings found Andy Grabowski to make it 5-2 with 7:15 to go.

Bates then tallied a great counter-attack goal from O'Friel to sophomore Charlie Hildebrand (Berwyn, Pa.) for the finish on a "free shot" after a yellow flag was thrown against the Ephs. A slashing call on Williams gave the Bobcats their first man-up opportunity of the game and they took advantage, with Allard closing the gap to 5-4 with 5:43 to go in the half.

Bates then got its third straight goal in an all-defensemen connection from Spehler to O'Friel to tie the game at 5-5 with 2:08 left in the quarter. But Bates' most exciting point of the game was turned into disappointment just eight seconds later, as the Ephs' Lee was awarded the ball on the ensuing faceoff, and a lightning-quick shot by Lauroesch on an assist by defender Peter Sullivan gave the Ephs the lead back -- for good, as it turned out. Bates got off two shots before the end of the half -- one sent wide by Hildebrand and the other a Whittam save on Strain.

After eight goals were scored in the second quarter, only one was tallied in the third, when Gilbert-Bono hit Thomas Fowler on a fast-break counter-attack with 2:45 left in the quarter to end a 14-minute-plus dry spell for both teams.

Williams padded on two crucial insurance goals to start the fourth period, with Tanner MacIvor dishing to Lauroesch for the first three-goal lead by either team, at 8-5. Williams' Lee won his fourth straight faceoff, and less than a minute later MacIvor made it 9-5, surprising the Bates defense with a sudden outside shot that beat Bates senior goalie Charlie Kazarian (Providence, R.I.).

A Williams turnover in its offensive end turned into a fast-break opportunity for the Bobcats, and Strain's perfectly timed pass to Allard was converted to close the gap to 9-6. 

Again, Bates went man-up right after the goal, on a cross-check call against the Ephs. Forty-one seconds into the penalty, Weber cranked a shot past Whitman after a kick-out pass by Allard, making it 9-7 with 3:21 to go in the game.

Williams won the ensuing faceoff, but was whistled for a two-minute, non-releasable penalty with 2:38 to go in the game, potentially giving Bates the opportunity it needed. The Bobcats managed four unsuccessful shots in the final two minutes, two of them saved by Whittam and the final horn sounded with Williams the 9-7 victor.

Bates will host Keene State on Wednesday at 5pm in a non-conference game at Garcelon.