Box Score 
Emma Brinkman scored four goals to lead Bates to an 8-7 win over Amherst on March 12, 2016. (File Photo by Kim Lloyd/Bates College)
LEWISTON, Maine -- The Bates College women's lacrosse team got out to a 5-1 lead and held on for an 8-7 victory over No. 9 nationally ranked Amherst College on Saturday at Garcelon Field, raising the Bobcats' record to 5-0 for the first time since 2001.
The unranked Bobcats (5-0, 2-0 NESCAC) defeated the first nationally ranked team they have faced this season; they last defeated a top-10 team in the final game of the 2015 season against Colby.
Senior Emma Brinkman (Rye, N.Y.) tied her career high with a game-high four goals, junior Kaileigh Maguire (Sudbury, Mass.) added two goals and two assists and senior Hannah Jeffrey (Greenwich, Conn.) made 10 saves, none bigger than her stop of Rachel Passarelli with 32 seconds left in the game.
Amherst (1-1, 1-1 NESCAC) received three goals from Kate Wyeth and two goals and an assist from Claire Cagnassola. Passarelli contributed a goal and two assists, and Mia Haughton had a pair of assists as well. Hanna Krueger collected a game-high six draw controls.
It was the Maguire and Brinkman show at the start of the game: the Bobcats scored three unanswered goals in the first five minutes of the game, then made it 4-0 with 16:16 left in the first half. Maguire started it off with a free-position goal, and she followed that at the 26:46 mark by hitting a cutting Brinkman, who faked high and shot low past Amherst goalie Christy Forrest (two saves). With 25:20 left in the half, Maguire cut down the middle and senior Alex Briody (North Kingstown, R.I.) hit her with the assist for a 3-0 edge.
Bates made it 4-0 with a fast-break tally, as senior Moriah Greenstein (Millerton, N.Y.) looped the ball from outside the box to where Brinkman could catch in front of the Amherst goal and score.
Amherst got on the board with Passarelli assisting Cagnassola with 13:20 left in the period, but Bates made it a four-goal game again when sophomore Camille Belletete (Jaffrey, N.H.) drove, dodged and scored on a leaping shot for a 5-1 Bates lead.
Amherst closed it to 5-3 before intermission. With 3:53 to go, Passarelli came from behind the net, then doubled back for an unassisted score. Forty-four seconds later, Cagnassola controlled the ensuing draw and assisted Wyeth to make it a two-goal game.
Brinkman gave Bates more breathing room with 26:05 to go in the second, scoring on a pass from Maguire while falling down with her back to the Amherst goal.
Haughton assisted on both goals as Cagnassola and Wyeth scored back-to-back to make it a one-goal game again at 6-5.
Bates twice got insurance goals in the final 19 minutes, only to see Amherst close the deficit to one goal both times. Briody scored a free-position goal to make it 7-5, but Passarelli hooked up with Wyeth to make it 7-6 with 17:17 left. With 13:36 to go, Bates junior Sydney Cowles (Wayne, Pa.) carried from behind the Amherst goal up onto the left goalpost, where she found Brinkman open to make it 8-6. Thirty-six seconds later, however, Amherst closed it to 8-7 as Mary Grace Cronin made an individual move along the baseline and stuffed the ball past Jeffrey.
Bates managed to wear the clock away over the final 13 minutes without taking another shot, with Jeffrey making saves on Cagnassola at 11:53, on Passarelli at 3:49 and on Passarelli again in the final minute.
Bates will play a non-conference game at Roger Williams University on Tuesday at 4:30pm.
