LEWISTON, Maine -- No. 2 nationally ranked Middlebury netted the game's first five goals, and produced a solid defensive performance en route to a 12-5 NESCAC win over the No. 9 Bates women's lacrosse team on Saturday at Garcelon Field. Bates win streak ends at four games.

The Panthers (10-0, 6-0 NESCAC) limited the Bobcats (10-2, 5-2 NESCAC) to just two goals during the opening half, and held the Bobcats scoreless for 31:30 of game action. Bates doesn't play again until April 19 with a road game at Tufts.

Middlebury entered the game as the NESCAC's leading offense and Bates had the conference's leading defense. The Panthers' 12 goals were three more than Bates had given up in a game all season.

Middlebury set the tone early jumping out to the early lead, when Laurel Pascal opened the scoring 1:57 into the contest.

The Bobcats looked to pull even a minute later on a free-position shot by junior Drew Barry (Portland, Maine) while on an extra-player opportunity, but Panther goalie Katie Mandigo made a nice save to keep Bates off the board.

The guests doubled the lead when Pascal bounced a free-position shot in for her second tally of the game at 22:48, while Megan Griffin scored 50 seconds later to push the Panther advantage to three. Middlebury completed the game-opening spurt with tallies by Claire Russell and Bridget Instrum on an extra-player chance for a five-goal advantage at 14:54.

Bates finally solved Middlebury's defense with a goal with 14:05 left in the half on a shot by senior Moriah Greenstein (Glenmont, N.Y.). The Bobcats netted another score off the stick of junior Sydney Cowles (Wayne, Pa.) just over five minutes later, closing Middlebury's lead to 5-2.

Middlebury added the final goal of the period with 2:28 remaining when Mary O'Connell picked the top left corner of the net after taking a nice pass from Alli Sciarretta for a 6-2 lead.  

In the second half, the Panthers again started quickly with two unassisted goals in a span of 39 seconds. Chrissy Ritter picked up the first at 27:43 with Instrum netting the second for her team-leading 27th of the season, pushing the lead to six at 8-2. Sciarretta made it a 10-2 contest with a pair of goals separated by 12 seconds, the first on a free-position shot and the second via an assist from Mary O'Connell. The score remained an eight-goal lead for the visitors until Griffin and Pascal tallied 17 seconds apart to give Middlebury its largest lead of the game (12-2) with 18:15 left in regulation.

The Bobcats ended its long scoring drought when Cowles netted a goal with 7:42 showing on the clock. Cowles added her third of the game and sophomore Camille Belletete (Jaffrey, N.H.) slinged a hard shot in to close out the scoring (1:34) and make the final score 12-5.

Pascal led the Panthers with three goals, raising her season total to 24, while Sciarretta chipped in with two goals and a pair of assists. Griffin finished with two goals and a helper, while Alex White led all players with seven ground balls. Mandigo added five ground balls and seven saves to earn the win in goal for the Panthers.

Cowles factored in on four of the five goals by the Bobcats with three scores and one assist, while Belletete earned a game-high five draw controls. In goal, senior Hannah Jeffrey (Greenwich, Conn.) recorded nine saves.

Middlebury held an advantage in both shots (31-19) and ground balls (26-16), but the hosts held a 13-6 edge in draw controls.