LEWISTON, Maine -- The No. 7 nationally ranked Bates field hockey team won their first-ever NCAA tournament game in style Wednesday night at Campus Ave. Field, defeating Johnson & Wales University by a count of 7-0.

With the victory, the Bobcats (13-5) matched the 1975 Bates field hockey team for the most wins in one season in program history.

Bates advances to take on No. 2 Babson in the second round of the NCAA tournament this Saturday at 11am in Babson Park, Mass.

With the crowd buzzing with energy and anticipation for an historic moment at Bates, the Bobcats got off to a hot start. Maintaining steady possession, Bates earned several chances on goal, and after a few attempts thwarted by the Johnson & Wales defense, senior captain Paige Cote (Auburn, Maine) found the back of the cage with 9:04 left on the clock for her ninth goal on the year, giving Bates an early 1-0 lead.

Bates did not take their foot off the gas. Senior captain Molly Griffin (Holden, Mass.) earned Bates their first penalty corner of the day, and junior Anna Cote (Auburn, Maine) capitalized. Taking the ball off a deflection from the goalie, Cote buried her shot to earn her 11th goal of the year, giving the Bobcats a 2-0 lead with 4:08 left on the clock in the first quarter.

Bates continued their push to begin the second quarter, batting away the Johnson & Wales chances, and keeping an aggressive pace with several shots on goal and a penalty corner that was unsuccessful.

The pace paid dividends, with another penalty corner for Bates, along with a carefully played formation, allowed Griffin to tip an open shot into the net for her second goal of the day, her third of the year, and Bates pushed the tempo to earn a commanding 3-0 lead with 2:25 left in the half. Johnson & Wales (17-3) immediately tried to answer back, with an offensive push leading to a one-on-one opportunity, but sophomore Kaili Jacobsen (Fairfield, Conn.) made an incredible diving save to halt the Wildcat attack, and allow Bates to pull into the half holding the lead at 3-0.

With 4:19 left in the third quarter, Anna Cote notched her 12th goal of the season, and her second of the game, to push the Bobcat lead to a commanding 4-0 advantage

The Bobcats continued to pull away. Converting on their third penalty corner of the game, junior Anna Lindeis (New Canaan, Conn.) scored her eighth goal of the year to make it 5-0 with 2:30 left in the third quarter.

A hard foul knocked senior Ella Blum (South Salem, N.Y.) to the ground and granted Bates a penalty stroke. Blum capitalized on the  opportunity, scoring her fifth goal of the year to take Bates into the fourth quarter with a 6-0 lead.

The Bobcats capped off the scoring by converting on another penalty corner, with Paige Cote scoring her second goal of the game, her tenth on the year, extending the Bates lead to 7-0.

Bates tallied 26 shots to Johnson & Wales' two, with 15 on goal. The Bobcats scored more goals against Johnson & Wales in one game (7) than the Wildcats had given up all season (6) entering the contest.