LEWISTON, Maine -- The No. 12 nationally ranked Bates field hockey team got a key goal right before halftime that ended up being the difference in a 2-1 win over No. 9 Amherst Saturday morning at Campus Ave. Field. 

Already up 1-0, the Bobcats (5-2, 3-1 NESCAC) earned a penalty corner just a split second before time expired in the first half. Per the rules of field hockey, a penalty corner can last beyond when the clock hits zero, until the defensive team gets the ball out of the shooting area, or a goal is scored. The Bobcats were able to take advantage of the opportunity. 

First-year Caroline Nowak (Pelham, N.Y.) delivered the insert to senior Anna Cote (New Gloucester, Maine), who fed the ball to her right to senior captain Anna Lindeis (New Canaan, Conn.), and Lindeis smartly played the ball right back to Cote. Cote fired a shot that bounced right onto the stick of Nowak, who was waiting by the left side of the cage. Nowak touched it home for her first collegiate goal, putting the Bobcats up 2-0 at halftime. Cote's assist gives her a team-leading eight points on the season (two goals, four assists).

The 2-0 halftime lead for Bates was a bit of a surprise, as Amherst (5-3, 1-3 NESCAC) tallied 10 shots in the first half to just five for the Bobcats.

But first-year goalkeeper Ava Donohue (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.) was the star of the show, tallying a career-high nine saves in the game, seven in the first half. Sophomore Haley Dwight (West Newbury, Mass.) chipped in a defensive save on a penalty corner in the sixth minute, her third of the season.

Amherst was able to get on the board in the 36th minute, after Kate Smith collected a rebound from a shot on a penalty corner off the stick of Justine Liguori, which Donohue denied. But Donohue couldn't quite get to the left post in time as Smith scored to cut the Bates lead to one. 

The Bobcats did not allow a single shot on goal the rest of the way, as they knocked off the Mammoths to secure their best start to a season since 2019, and their best start in NESCAC play since 2002.

Bates got on the board first on Saturday, and did not surrender the lead. In the 11th minute, senior Maria Femia (Canton, Mass.) collected a pass in the shooting area, backed down her defender, and turned and scored, giving Femia her third goal of the season, tied with junior Brooke Moloney-Kolenberg (Winchester, Mass.) and sophomore Sophie O'Sullivan (Wellesley, Mass.) for the team lead.

After getting doubled up in shots in the first half, the Bobcats evened things out a bit in the second half, but the Mammoths still finished the game with a 14-11 advantage in shots, with 11 shots on goal for the visitors and seven for Bates. Amherst earned five penalty corners to three for the Bobcats.

The Bobcats are back in action Sunday at 12 p.m. when they welcome Vermont State Castleton to Campus Ave. Field.