LEWISTON, Maine -- The Bates College men's lacrosse team scored four straight second-half goals to tie Hamilton College 7-7, but the visiting Continentals' John Zimmerman scored the game-winning goal with 19.6 seconds left on a feed from Sam Sweet, handing the Bobcats a tough-to-swallow 8-7 defeat on Saturday at Garcelon Field.

Bates (4-4, 1-4 NESCAC) sophomore midfielder Charlie Fay (Falmouth, Maine) scored four goals in the second half to lead Bates' charge back from a 6-2 deficit.

Hamilton (6-3, 2-3 NESCAC) had been held scoreless for nearly 20 minutes before salvaging the victory. The Continentals gained the ball with 1:24 to go in the fourth quarter when Will Driscoll stopped Fay's shot for his 14th save of the game. After calling timeout with 1:06 left in the game, the Continentals worked to set up a final shot. With about 10 seconds left on the shot clock and 19.6 seconds to go on the game clock, Sweet had the ball on the left side, with his back facing the Bates goal. Sweet's defender slipped on the turf, giving the Continental attackman a free lane. With defensive help converging on Sweet, Zimmerman was left open on the right doorstep of Bates' goal and converted the point-blank shot past Bates junior goalie Joe Faria (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.).

The ensuing faceoff was controlled by Bates, but with time running out, junior Jack Allard (Ridgewood, N.J.) was forced to shoot from near midfield, just wide of Hamilton's net. Bates retained the ball with the clock restarted with 0.7 seconds left in the game but couldn't muster another shot.

The game-winning goal spoiled an impressive comeback by Bates led by Fay, who scored all four of his goals in a 5-1 Bobcat run, and three of Bates' goals in the 4-0 run. Two of them on man-up opportunities, at the 3:48 mark of the third quarter and the 14:34 mark of the fourth. Fay also scored a man-up goal with 7:05 to go in the third to cut Hamilton's lead to 6-3. Fellow sophomore Kyle Weber (Chagrin Falls, Ohio) tallied his man-up goal with 26 seconds left in the third to make it 7-5. The Bobcats finished the game 4-for-5 on extra-man chances, and killed all four penalties of their own.

Sweet led the Continentals with two goals and the assist, while also collecting three ground balls. Joe Riccuiti, Zimmerman, Baylis Treen, J.D. Brachman and Pax Antos also scored for Hamilton. Dylan Lahey collected four ground balls and forced a Bates turnover. Driscoll made 14 saves in net.

Fay's four goals were a career high; the 6-foot-4 midfielder returned to action this week after missing Bates' first six games to injury, and he now has six goals on the year. Weber scored two goals and Strain added a goal and an assist. Bates' leading scorer, Allard, was held scoreless on four shot attempts by a Hamilton defense intent on limiting his chances.

Junior defender Ken O'Friel (Scarsdale, N.Y.) had another big game to lead a stout Bates defense, scopping a game-high five ground balls, forcing one turnover and winning 4-of-5 faceoffs, to help Bates to a 10-7 advantage in faceoffs overall. Faria finished the game with seven saves.

Hamilton outscored Bates 2-1 in both the first and second quarters, then tallied the first two scores of the third quarter to assume a 6-2 lead.

Strain scored his 18th goal of the season to tie the game at 2-2 early in the second, but Sweet made it 3-2 on a feed from Matt Greene with 9:29 to go. Following a five-minute scoreless stretch, Hamilton scored on a fast break off of a Driscoll save. Sweet's close-range shot to finish the break was stopped by Faria, but Treen was in position to pick up the loose ball and shovel it in for a 4-2 Hamilton lead.

Just over a minute into the third, a Hamilton pass from behind Bates' goal missed its intended man, but Ricciuti gathered the ball at the top of the circle and scored with 13:54 on the clock. Donahoe made it 6-2 with 9:48 to go, using a nice spin move to open up his shot into the upper reaches of the net.

Bates then took advantage of the first of four Hamilton penalties in the third quarter, as Fay ripped the ball into the net on a Jake Walsh assist. Hamilton scored what would be a crucial goal in response, controlling the ensuing faceoff and holding on to the ball before Dan Cahill assisted Brachman on his score with 4:57 to go, returning the Continental lead to four.

Both teams return to NESCAC action on Wednesday at 7pm, with Bates at Bowdoin and Hamilton at Middlebury.