Emma Noto fires an 8-meter shot to give Bates a 5-4 lead against Bowdoin on April 1, 2015. (Josh Kuckens/Bates College) 

LEWISTON, Maine -- No. 7 nationally ranked Bowdoin scored three go-ahead goals in the final 15 minutes, including the game-winner by Clare McLaughlin with 3:05 left, to claim an 8-7 win over the Bates College women's lacrosse team on Wednesday night at Garcelon Field.

The Polar Bears (7-2, 4-2 NESCAC) received a game-high four goals from Taylor Wilson and two more by McLaughlin to overcome one of the Bobcats' (5-7, 1-6 NESCAC) best all-around efforts of the season. The Bobcats scored six of their goals on 8-meter shots, going 6-for-10 on free-position attempts for the game.

Bates junior Moriah Greenstein (Glenmont, N.Y.) scored three goals, all on free-position shots, to lead Bates, while junior Alex Briody (North Kingstown, R.I.) added a goal and an assist. Junior goalie Hannah Jeffrey (Greenwich, Conn.) had 15 saves to help offset a 23-11 Bowdoin advantage in shots on goal, and a 28-17 difference in shot attempts.

Only once in the evenly contested game did either team lead by more than a single score: when Greenstein buried her third goal to make it 4-2 Bates with 10:18 to go in the first half. McLaughlin responded 50 seconds later with her first unassisted tally, and Wilson scored with 3:51 to go in the half to even the score at 4-4 at intermission.

Bates junior Emma Noto (Portland, Ore.) ended a scoreless spell of over 22 minutes' duration when she put Bates back ahead 5-4, flipping the ball from the left side of the circle inside the far post on an 8-meter attempt with 18:23 to go in the game.

Bowdoin responded with back-to-back goals by Megan O'Connor (assisted by a perfectly timed entry pass from Lindsay Picard) and the Polar Bears' lone free-position goal of the game, a Wilson tally with 14:24 to go that gave Bowdoin its first lead since 1-0, at 6-5.

Bates first-year Camille Belletete (Jaffrey, N.H.) controlled the ensuing draw and a patient Bates offense resulted in a free-position attempt for junior Suzannah Smith (Brunswick, Maine), which she faked low and shot high to even the game at 6-6 with 12:52 left.

The score remained knotted at 6-6 until 6:10 remained. Bates goalie Jeffrey advanced far away from Bates' goal while trying to advance the ball past Bowdoin's pressing attackers and midfielders. Jeffrey rolled the ball backward toward a teammate in the direction of Bates' goal; the ball wasn't cleanly handled by the Bobcats, and Bowdoin's Mettler Growney alertly picked the ball off the carpet, drove right and shot into an open net to make it 7-6 in Bowdoin's favor.

Bates won the next draw and again patiently worked over the Bowdoin defense until another foul was whistled, giving Briody a free-position shot with 4:50 to go. Briody's bounce shot from the top of the circle found the back of the net, tying the game for the sixth time at 7-7.

Bowdoin's Picard won the ensuing draw and the Polar Bears held the ball for nearly two minutes, before McLaughlin attacked from the right goal-line extended and tucked a shot from a very tight angle past Jeffrey for the game-winner. Over three minutes remained in regulation, but Bowdoin's Annie Glenn controlled the final draw and the Polar Bears were able to whittle the game clock away to hang on for the win.

Bates hosts Connecticut College on Saturday at noon.