HAVERFORD, Pa. In a back-and-forth contest that saw multiple momentum shifts, Bates women's lacrosse opened its 2025 season with a hard-fought 18-14 loss to Haverford College on Wednesday at Swan Field. The game marked the debut of head coach
Princess L. Zabel, who saw her team put together a resilient effort in her first game at the helm.
Bates (0-1) came out strong, controlling early draws and pushing the pace offensively. Senior captain,
Caroline Taggart, opened the scoring at 12:52 off a feed from
Lucy Taylor. After trading goals with Haverford,
Laci Raveis struck twice at 5:11 and 3:16 to put the Bobcats up, 3-2. Taggart struck again with 11 seconds left in the period to push the surplus to two before Ellie Hughes (Sr.-Sewickley, Pa.) responded with a last-second tally to cut the margin to 4-3 after one.
The second quarter saw Haverford shift momentum behind a dominant stretch consisting of seven unanswered goals. Despite two more talllies from Raveis at 14:05 and 1:31, along with
Caitlin Quinn's first collegiate tally (an unassisted strike at 4:08), Bates entered the break trailing 10-7.
Bates mounted a strong push in the third quarter, reclaiming control in the circle with a 6-4 edge in draw controls.
Sarah Stavrovich's first goal as a Bobcat found the back of the net at 10:38, followed by
Grace Yonchak's (8:27) and
Grace Cassin's (6:15) initial tallies of the year, bringing Bates within one at 13-12. After a man-up goal from Sophie Jaffe (So.-Lawrenceville, N.J.) at 3:00 briefly extended Haverford's lead, but goals from
Caroline Keating (2:45) and Raveis (0:03) sliced the Fords' lead to 14-13 entering the fourth quarter.
Haverford (1-0) capitalized on late-game opportunities, using a man-up advantage and a pair of goals from Tiffany Mikulis (Sr.-Hopkinton, Mass.) (10:55, 5:20) to pull away. Keating's late goal at 4:55 kept Bates within reach at 17-14, but the Fords held firm down the stretch, sealing the win with a final goal from Mikulis at 0:38.
In goal,
Raegan White and
Molly Urbonas split time for the Bobcats, with White (30:00) making 11 saves in the first half. Urbonas, making her debut for Bates, added three of her own in the second. The road team finished with a 19-15 advantage in draw controls, but was outshot 44-23 overall.
Raveis led the way offensively for the Bobcats, netting a game-high five goals while adding two assists. Taggart collected four points for the garnet and white. First-year
Aisling Boyd recorded her first collegiate goal with a tally in the third period.
Haley Wines, in her first game with Bates, paced the squad with five draw controls.
The Bobcats will now journey to Washington, D.C. to take on Catholic University (0-1) this Saturday at noon.
