COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- The Bates women's lacrosse team scored eight unanswered goals in the first half on their way to an 11-6 victory over NCAA Division II foe Fort Lewis College Tuesday afternoon in a neutral site game hosted by Colorado College.

Sophomore Caroline Taggart (Concord, Mass.) and first-year Lauren Wong (Walpole, Mass.) scored two goals apiece to lead the Bobcats (1-0) to victory. Taggart also dished out an assist and recorded two ground balls in the win. 

Defensively, senior Allison Greuel (Freeport, Maine) led the way with five caused turnovers and a pair of ground balls. Senior captain goalkeeper Cammie Lavoie (Epping, N.H.) made five saves for the Bobcats. Junior Sadie O'Neil (Concord, Mass.) led all players with four draw controls. 

With Bates down 1-0, sophomore Trish Balser (Ponte Vedra, Fla.) netted an unassisted tally with 12:43 left in the first quarter, tying the score at one. Less than two minutes later, junior Hanna Matthews (Westwood, Mass.) put the Bobcats ahead for good. 

Nine different players scored for Bates on Tuesday, with six different Bobcats finding the back of the net in the first quarter. The Bobcats went up by a score of 6-1 through one, and added two more goals in the second quarter from two additional players before Fort Lewis finally scored with 1:17 remaining until halftime.

Up 8-2 at the intermission, Bates went up 10-2 in the third quarter thanks to goals from junior Maddy Roelofs (Rye, N.H.) and Taggart. Roelofs and first-year Clare McGeever (Berlin, Conn.) both recorded one goal and one assist on the afternoon.

Fort Lewis (0-1) went on a mini 3-0 run to cut the lead to 10-5 with 10:43 remaining in regulation. But Wong answered with her second goal of the afternoon to put Bates back up by six with 7:56 left.

Haley Dostie led all goal scorers with three for Fort Lewis to go along with one ground ball and a caused turnover. Makenna Carter led Fort Lewis on defense with three ground balls and three caused turnovers. Averi Basso made 12 saves in goal.

The Bobcats dominated the shooting category, taking 35 shots to 18 for Fort Lewis. They also won the ground ball battle, 24-18.

Bates is back in action Thursday when the Bobcats take on host Colorado College at 3pm eastern time.