LEWISTON, Maine -- First-years Sophia Cordoni and Ali Apigian scored their first collegiate goals and the No. 8 nationally ranked Bates field hockey team defeated No. 17 Lynchburg 2-1 Sunday afternoon at Campus Ave. Field. 

Eight different players have now scored a goal for the Bobcats (3-0) this season.

The game stood scoreless until the 27th minute. Cordoni (San Jose, Calif.) reeled in a pass in the middle of the shooting area. She turned and fired a shot that got denied by Lynchburg goalkeeper Shay Schoones. The ball deflected to the left post and sophomore Alexa Queen (Pittsburgh) was able to shuffle the ball back to Cordoni for the goal. It's Queen's first collegiate assist.

Leading by one at halftime, Bates took advantage of a penalty corner in the 42nd minute. Junior Amy LaBelle (Barrington, R.I.) delivered the insert to Apigian (McLean, Va.), who stick stopped the ball for sophomore Caroline Nowak (Pelham, N.Y.). Nowak passed the ball to senior captain Brooke Moloney-Kolenberg (Winchester, Mass) on the left side and Moloney-Kolenberg fed it back to Apigian at the top of the circle. Apigian made a move to her right and took a shot toward the right post. It went off the stick off a Lynchburg defender and into the back of the cage for a 2-0 Bates lead.

The Hornets (2-1) tried to rally late, even forcing LaBelle to make a diving defensive save in the 56th minute. But the Bobcat defense held off the visitors from Virginia until the 60th minute, as Lauren Mark found the back of the cage off the rebound from an Anna Dorrestijn shot that sophomore goalkeeper Ava Donohue (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.) had stopped. By then, it was too little, too late for Lynchburg.

Donohue finished the day with three saves, while her counterpart Schoones made four saves. Lynchburg tallied 14 shots to just nine for the Bobcats. But Bates was more accurate, with six shots on goal to five for the Hornets. 

Bates is back in action this Wednesday when the Bobcats travel to Thomas College to take on the Terriers at 7 p.m.