WELLESLEY, Mass. -- Senior captain
Haley Dwight scored a pair of goals and the No. 22 nationally ranked Bates field hockey team rolled to a 5-1 win Wednesday night at Wellesley.
It's the most goals scored by the Bobcats (4-3) in a game this season as the visitors outshot the Blue (1-8) by a count of 17-3, with nine shots on goal for Bates and one for the hosts.
The Bobcats got on the board in the 10th minute of action, earning a penalty stroke. Junior
Bella Bigelow (Alburgh, Vt.) took the attempt and found the back of the cage for her second goal of the season.
With three minutes remaining in the opening quarter, Bates added to the lead. The Bobcats earned a penalty corner and junior
Caroline Nowak (Pelham, N.Y.) delivered the insert. Senior captain
Amy LaBelle (Barrington, R.I.) was able to get the ball and find Dwight (West Newbury, Mass.) for the latter's first goal of the season and a 2-0 edge for Bates.
The Bobcats repeated the trick with 10 minutes left in the second quarter. Once again, Nowak delivered the insert on a corner, LaBelle got the assist, and Dwight notched the goal.
Bates added a fourth goal in the 25th minute. An initial shot by first-year
Samantha Enerio (Menlo Park, Calif.) was stopped by Wellesley's Maddie Miller. But senior
Sophie O'Sullivan (Wellesley, Mass.) was there to collect the rebound, scoring her first goal of the season and the eighth of her career.
Up 4-0 at halftime, the Bobcats capped off their best offensive game of the season in the 36th minute when sophomore
Sophia Cordoni (San Jose, Calif.) scored unassisted for her first tally of the year.
The Blue did take advantage of their only shot on goal of the evening when Marguerite Greene scored on a penalty corner, with an assist to Madeline Hamstra in the 53rd minute.
Both teams split the goaltending duties, with junior
Ava Donohue (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.) playing the first 30 minutes for the Bobcats and first-year
Naeve Lustig (West Vancouver, British Columbia) playing the final 30 minutes. Miller made two saves in the first half for Wellesley and Hannah Simmonds recorded a pair of saves in the second half.
The Bobcats earned eight penalty corners on the night and held Wellesley to just three penalty corners.
Bates returns to NESCAC action on Saturday when the Bobcats host Trinity at 11 a.m. for "Back to Bates" Weekend.
