LEWISTON, Maine -- Quinn Moroney scored three unanswered goals, the first one as time expired on the first quarter, lifting No. 13 nationally ranked Amherst to a 5-1 lead en route to a 10-6 victory over the Bates College men's lacrosse team on Saturday afternoon at Garcelon Field, in the season opener for both teams.

Moroney led the Jeffs (1-0, 1-0 NESCAC) with three goals and one assist, while Kane Haffey added two scores. Dylan Park and Mike Litner contributed a goal and an assist apiece. Cody Tranbarger made 15 saves in goal for the Jeffs, who outshot the Bobcats 49-36, including a 30-21 edge in shots on goal. Moroney and Charlie Gill had five ground balls apiece, while Drew Kelleher won 11 of 18 faceoffs and was credited with 10 ground balls.

Bates senior captain Jack Strain (Montclair, N.J.) scored a game-high four goals to keep the Bobcats in the game. Bates junior goalie Joe Faria (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.) made a career-high 20 saves. Sophomore Kyle Weber (Chagrin Falls, Ohio) scored the Bobcats' first goal, and sophomore Scott Baber (Pound Ridge, N.Y.) added his first career goal in the fourth quarter. Junior Ken O'Friel (Scarsdale, N.Y.) scooped a team-high six ground balls.

Connor Crump opened the game's scoring for Amherst 5:11 into the first quarter with an unassisted tally, and Gill followed 1:38 later on an assist by Park.

Weber closed the gap to 2-1 with an unassisted goal after junior defender Colby Spehler (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.) stole the ball from the Jeffs.

Neither team scored until the last second of the first quarter. After a Crump shot went wide and out of bounds to stop the clock, Moroney wheeled into the circle and shot past Faria for a 3-1 Amherst lead at the end of the first period.

Kelleher won the ensuing faceoff to start the second quarter and with 13:48 to go, Moroney backed his defender down into the circle before turning and bouncing a shot hard off the turf and into the upper reaches of the Bates net, making it 4-1. Two minutes later, Moroney struck again with a virtually identical move for a 5-1 lead.

Strain closed the gap at the 8:52 mark to finish a Bates clear. But Park scored his goal 38 seconds later, off another faceoff win by Kelleher, switching from his right to his left hand to free up a running shot from the left of the circle, and returning the Jeffs' lead to four goals (6-2). An interference call on Bates gave Amherst a man-up opportunity and the Jeffs cashed in with Litner feeding Haffey to make it 7-2 at the half.

The first nine minutes of the third quarter transpired without a goal, until Strain struck again with 6:02 left to cut the gap to 7-3.

Amherst responded with three scores in a row to open up a 10-3 advantage before the end of the third quarter. Litner struck with 4:51 to go, followed at the 1:30 mark by an outstanding high shot by Amherst's Chris Albanese, released from 15 yards out. Amherst opened a game-high 10-3 lead with 1:00 left in the quarter, with Haffey one-timing a cross-zone pass from Moroney.

Bates played its best in the fourth quarter, outscoring Amherst 3-0 in the period, all by Strain. It was the one quarter in which the Bobcats won more ground balls than the Jeffs (9-7), and Faria made five saves in the period. After Strain made it 10-4 with 9:35 to go, Bates scored its first man-up goal of the season, with sophomore Andrew Melvin (Medfield, Mass.) finding Strain open at the top of the circle with a pass from behind Amherst's goal, making it 10-5 with 4:50 left. Bates sophomore Sam Francis (Newburyport, Mass.) won the ensuing faceoff and ground ball and Strain made it 10-6 with 4:19 left in the game. Amherst regrouped and outshot Bates 5-2 over the final three minutes of the game, keeping the score at 10-6.

Bates plays host to the University of New England in a non-conference game on Tuesday at 7pm.