Lewiston, Maine (Russell Street Track & Field) - In a classic NESCAC men's soccer clash, visiting Amherst College came out on top Saturday afternoon as the Mammoths escaped with a 3-2 conference win over Bates College, highlighted by two goals from forward, Fynn Hayton-Ruffner.

The aforementioned sophomore provided the initial scoring effort of the first half when the Albany, Calif. native headed in a free kick off the boot of Declan Sung (Jr.-Newton, Mass.) at the 17:04 mark. Bates answered back in the 45th minute as Ciaran Bardong (Sr.-Manhasset, N.Y.) deflected in his second goal of the season with only 40 seconds remaining before intermission (44:20).

With the score knotted at 1-1, Hayton-Ruffner struck again as the offensive power knocked in a Niall Murphy (So.-Cambridge, Mass.) aider 4:35 into the second stanza (49:35) for his fifth goal of the season. Just 2:30 later (52:05), Ben Clark-Eden (So.-Littlehampton, England) answered the call with his first of the year, making the score 3-1 Mammoths.  

Alec Szwarcewicz (Newton, Mass.) did all he could to keep his squad in the contest as the senior captain sent in his third of the year at 67:31, but Bates could not cut the deficit any further.

Amherst (5-1-1, 1-1-1 NESCAC) owned a slight edge of 9-7 in the shot column, including a 5-3 margin on frame.

Bernie White (Sr.-Austin, Texas) collected the win in net for the Mammoths, gathering a lone save over 90:00. Nico Hessel (Fr.-Brattleboro, Vt.) provided two saves of his own for the garnet and white.

The Bobcats (3-3, 0-3 NESCAC) get right back at it on Sunday as Middlebury College comes to campus for another NESCAC showdown. Start time is set for 3:00 p.m.



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