LEWISTON, Maine -- The Bates women's lacrosse team tried to fight all the way back from a 10-goal deficit, twice cutting the deficit to four goals, but No. 8 nationally ranked Colby held off the Bobcats in their season finale for a 14-10 victory Friday night at Garcelon Field.

Gianna Bruno led the Mules (4-1) with seven points on three goals and four assists, while Annie Eddy and Grace Toner added four and three goals apiece, respectively. Midfielder Cami McDonald was a force on both end of the field with a goal, two assists, three ground balls, four caused turnovers and two draw controls. Tori Congdon added two goals and an assist.

Junior Jordyn Tveter (Topsfield, Mass.) scored three goals to go with an assist, three draw controls, two caused turnovers and three ground balls to lead Bates (2-3). First-year Sadie O'Neil (Concord, Mass.) added two goals and three draw controls, and seniors Margaret Smith (Wilton, Conn.) and Kathryn Grennon (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) scored two goals apiece in their final Bates game.

Colby quickly put Bates on the defensive, with three straight goals within the first three minutes for a 3-0 lead, two by Congdon sandwiching Eddy's first score.

Smith scored unassisted in the game's fourth minute to put Bates on the scoreboard, but Colby quickly answered with Toner scoring off the ensuing draw and McDonald adding another score for a 5-1 lead five minutes into the game.

The Mules turned their momentum into an 8-0 run to take an 11-1 lead, initiating the running game clock with 6:20 remaining in the first half as Toner scored her third goal of the half. Tveter returned the deficit to nine goals before halftime with the game's first free-position goal with 2:57 to go.

Bruno fed Eddy for the first score of the second half, restarting the running clock for the Mules. But senior Summer Dias (Newton, Mass.) won the next draw for Bates, and after a yellow card called on Colby, Smith fed Grennon to reduce Colby's lead to single digits again with 25:46 left in the game. 

Bates continued to cut into the lead with back-to-back goals by Tveter scored at 21:01 and 17:21. The Bobcats extended the surge into a full-blown run, as goals by Grennon, O'Neil and Smith followed in the next four minutes to close the gap to 12-8 with 12:59 remaining, bringing student fans to stomp their feet in the stands. 

Eddy stopped the run with 9:14 to go, scoring her fourth goal on an assist from McDonald. Bates made it a four-goal game again at the 6:36 and 2:50 marks of the half on free-position shots by O'Neil and first-year Maddy Roelofs (Rye, N.H.), but a goal by Bruno helped the Mules run out the game clock the rest of the way with their lead never dipping to less than four goals.

Sarah Hearns made seven saves in net for Colby, who outshot Bates by a slight 28-27 margin. Turnovers were even between the teams at 18 apiece. 

Senior Rachael Deptula (Durham, N.H.) started in goal for Bates and made two saves. Sophomore Cammie Lavoie (Epping, N.H.) played the final 17:21 and made three saves.