WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- Senior captain Dana Swartz scored a career-high six goals but a big first quarter was enough for the Williams College Ephs to defeat the visiting Bobcats by a final score of 15-10 Saturday afternoon in NESCAC action. 

Just 46 seconds in, the Ephs (3-4, 2-3 NESCAC) went up 1-0 on a goal by Grace Collier off a restart. The Ephs never trailed in the contest.
 
Bates (2-6, 0-5 NESCAC) answered the Eph score at 11:56 when senior Jordyn Tveter (Topsfield, Mass.) scored unassisted.
 
At 9:53 the Ephs took a 2-1 lead when Shea van den Brooek scored off a feed from Lily Warendorf at 8:28 and the Ephs never relinquished the lead the remainder of the game.
 
The Eph lead grew to 3-1 when Christina Halloran notched a goal off a pass from Madison Fulcher-Melendy and shortly after the Ephs were up 4-1. The fourth Eph goal came on an unassisted net stretcher by Claudia Russell.
 
The fourth consecutive goal by Williams was registered at 5:27 when Mason Yonge found a cutting Collier who tucked the ball inside the near post. The fifth consecutive Eph tally in the quarter came at 1:34 when a cutting Russell converted off a pass from Fulcher-Melendy. The Ephs owned a 6-1 at the end of the first quarter.
 
Williams controlled play throughout the first quarter outshooting Bates 14-2.
 
At 10:07 in the second quarter the Ephs took advantage of Bates being down a player due to a penalty and Russell boosted the Eph lead to 6, 7-1. Bates answered at 8:55 when first-year Trish Balser (Ponte Vedra, Fla.) found a crossing junior Sophie Scola (San Mateo, Calif.) in front of the goal going from left to right and she scored inside the right post. The Bates goal was answered at 7:44 with an unassisted goal by Fulcher-Melendy, re-establishing the Ephs' six-goal lead, 8-2.
 
With 2:38 left in the second quarter the Ephs lifted their lead back to seven, 9-2, when Warendorf scored unassisted.
 
With just over 30 seconds remaining in the second quarter Bates capitalized on a man-up opportunity when Tveter slotted home her second goal of the game.
 
The Bobcats won the ensuing draw control and junior Chloe Robinson (North Salem, N.Y.) scored unassisted with 1.6 seconds left in the first half. Williams took a 9-4 lead into the halftime break.
 
Bates scored first in the second half when at 14:28 when Swartz (North Andover, Mass.) notched an unassisted goal narrowing the Eph lead to 4, 9-5. With just 10 seconds remaining on the shot clock, Shea van den Broek scored with Warendorf assisting and boosted the Williams lead back to five, 10-5.
 
Bates scored again, this time while the Ephs' Claire Wierman had been sent off for slashing. The Bobcats' goal was scored by Swartz who was assisted by junior Zoe Knauss (Buffalo, N.Y.) at 8:53 and the Ephs lead was now four, 10-6.
 
Tallying a free position goal at 7:32 was the Ephs' Isabel Arvelo and Williams was back up by 5, 11-6. Another Eph score off a free position came at 5:24 when Shea van den Broek ripped a shot inside the near post to give Williams a 12-6 lead. With just 16.8 seconds left in the quarter Swartz scored unassisted, cutting the Eph lead to five, 12-7.
 
At 9:25 in the fourth quarter the Bobcats gained possession of the ball in the defensive third of the field and called a timeout.

Out of the timeout, Swartz scored unassisted at 9:02 and the Eph lead was down to four, 12-8. Bates won the succeeding draw control and the Bobcats were back on the attack, but the Ephs forced a turnover. However, Williams failed to clear and Bates regained possession in the offensive end of the field.
 
A free position tally by Swartz narrowed the Eph lead to 3, 12-9, with 7:41 remaining in the fourth quarter. Winning the draw control, Williams went on the attack and charging in from the top left was Shea van den Broek who received a pass from Warendorf.  Van den Broek scored to push the Eph lead back to 4, 13-9.
 
With Bates on the attack with just over 5 minutes remaining Eph goalie Caitlyn Joyce went behind the goal and intercepted a Bobcat pass putting the Ephs back on offense. At 4:19   , the 14th Eph goal was scored by Allison Norris who was setup by Abby Godwin and Williams led, 14-9.
 
With 51 seconds remaining, Fulcher-Melendy assisted and Warendorf netted the 15th and final goal for Williams.
 
With just 16 seconds left in the contest, Swartz registered her sixth goal on the day unassisted, making the final score Williams 15 and Bates 10
 
Swartz led the all scorers with 6 goals, while the Ephs were led in goals by Shea van den Broek who scored 4 times and Warendorf who scored twice and assisted on three goals.
 
Bates junior goalie Cammie Lavoie (Epping, N.H.) recorded 13 saves, while the Ephs' Joyce denied eight shots by the Bobcats.

The Bobcats are back in action Wednesday at 7pm when they visit Brunswick to take on Bowdoin.