AMHERST, Mass. -- Trailing 4-2 after the first period of play, #23 Amherst College responded with seven unanswered goals to surge past visiting Bates as the Mammoths held off the Bobcats, 12-8, in NESCAC women's lacrosse action.

The home squad netted the first two tallies of the contest before the garnet and white roared ahead with a 4-0 push. The Mammoths' 7-0 run (four of which belonged to Sofia Guttmann) put Amherst up by a score of 9-4 with 6:17 to go in the third quarter.

Sadie O'Neil (Jr.-Concord, Mass.), with her back-to-back goals at 5:03 and 2:57 in the aforementioned third frame, inched the Bobcats closer on the scoreboard at 9-6. Amherst immediately countered with a 3-0 spurt that concluded at the six-minute mark of the fourth.

Now trailing 12-6, Caroline Taggart (Concord, Mass.) counterpunched with tallies at 3:10 and 2:16 in the final session to put the road team to within four, but the Bobcats simply ran out of time. Taggart's pair of goals gives the sophomore an astounding 12 goals and 16 total points over Bates' three games this week.

Trish Balser (So.-Pointe Vedra, Fla.) also contributed two scores for the Bobcats, her second-straight such effort.

Guttmann was the star of the show for Amherst, recording five goals in the victory. Amherst owned a slim 30-25 lead in the shots column, while getting off just two more on frame (20-18) than their guest.

Both goalkeepers went the distance for their respective teams. Caroline Stole secured 10 saves for the Mammoths (4-1, 2-1 NESCAC) while Cammie Lavoie (Sr.-Eppings, N.H.) gathered eight saves for the Bobcats.

Bates (4-4, 0-3 NESCAC) stays in conference for its next outing, a visit to #1 Middlebury College a week from today. Start time is set for 12:00 p.m.