LEWISTON, Maine -- The Bates field hockey team downed Colby 5-1 Tuesday night in a NESCAC match on Campus Ave. Field to secure a spot in the NESCAC tournament. The Bobcats took a 1-0 lead early in the first quarter, and then ran away with the game scoring four times in the second half.

Bates improves to 7-8 overall and 3-7 in NESCAC play, while the Mules finish their season with a 5-9 overall record and a 1-9 mark in conference action. The Bobcats will be the No. 8 seed in the NESCAC tournament and will play at top-seeded Middlebury on Saturday, Oct. 30.

Five different Bobcats scored in the victory. Sophomore Paige Cote (Auburn, Maine) led the way with a goal and two assists. Senior Riley Burns (Sterling, Mass.) notched two assists, and senior Ashton Bayle (Wayne, Pa.) added a goal and an assist.

Cote scored the first goal of the game in the first minute of the contest on the second straight corner for Bates. The corner was inserted by Bayle and stopped by Burns before being drilled home by Cote. It was Cote's seventh goal this year.

After a scoreless second quarter, Bayle notched a goal of her own, her first of the season, to make it 2-0 just 1:56 into the third. Burns sent a blast towards the goal that was tipped in by Bayle on the right side. Just under six minutes later, senior Emily Gianunzio (Darien, Conn.) extended the Bates lead to 3-0. In traffic in front of the goal, Cote pushed a short pass to Gianunzio who sent home her team-leading eighth goal of the season.

In the 40th minute, the Mules broke through with their lone goal of the game. Hig Sevigny found the back of the goal after a fast break down the right side of the field by Lillian Kistner.

The Bobcats added two more goals in the final quarter. In the 47th minute, Cote fired a shot on goal that was saved by Colby goalie Hattie Baker. The rebound bounced directly to senior Bridget Thompson (Newtown, Pa.), who laid out to get her shot into the right side of the goal past Baker to make it 4-1. It was her fourth goal this fall. In the 56th minute, senior Meghan Lapar (Wolfeboro, N.H.) capitalized on a penalty stroke for the Bobcats' fifth and final goal and her first of the season.

Junior Grace Biddle (State College, Pa.) played all 60 minutes in goal for Bates and made one save. Baker finished with three saves in all 60 minutes for Colby. The Bobcats finished with a 12-2 lead in shots and a 6-0 advantage in corners.