LEWISTON, MAINE – The Williams women's lacrosse team (8–1, NESCAC 4–1) defeated the Bates Bobcats (4–6, NESCAC 0–5) in a truly back-and-forth conference matchup on Saturday. The first quarter ended in a tie with both teams at 5 goals, but the second quarter belonged to the Ephs as they upped their goal count by 5. In the end, Williams took home its 8th consecutive win with a score of 13-9 against Bates.
Caroline Pratt '25 went in goal for the Ephs and Cammie Lavoie went in goal for the Bobcats. Just 50 seconds into the game, Hanna Matthews found the back of the net with an assist by Caroline Taggart, putting Bates on the scoreboard at 1-0. 50 seconds later at 13:20 Isabel Arvelo '23 tied it up at 1-1.
After taking a wide shot at 12:31, Claudia Russell '25 scored unassisted at 12:03 putting the Ephs up one. Elsa Dean-Muncie '25 kept up the momentum, netting off a pass from Meaghan Day '26 at 11:35 giving Williams a 3-1 advantage. But the Ephs' offense wasn't done yet — at 9:52 Katy McCullough '26 found the back of the cage with an assist by Grace Collier '25, putting the Ephs up by 3.
The Bobcats stopped the Ephs' scoring spree at 8:19 when Julia Roelofs scored off a pass from Hanna Matthews, decreasing the Bobcats' deficit to 2. The Bobcats scored again in a player-up situation when Caroline Taggart took advantage of a free position shot putting Bates at 3-4. After two missed shots by the Ephs, the third time was the charm for Claudia Russell who slotted one home at 6:09 unassisted putting the Ephs up by 2.
With 3:14 left in the first quarter, Madie Donovan cut the Bobcats' deficit down to 1, scoring off a pass from Lauren Wong. Caroline Pratt denied the Bobcats a free position opportunity at 2:16, keeping the score at 5-4 for Williams. But Caroline Taggart — leading scorer for the Bobcats — tied it up at 1:11 with an assist by Caroline Keating, putting the score at 5-5 going into the second quarter.
Less than one minute into the second quarter, Claudia Russell pulled off a hattrick with an assist by Christina Halloran '24, giving Williams the lead once again. Christina Halloran slotted home one of her own off a pass from Lauren Morganlander '26 at 12:37 putting Williams at 7-5.
Claudia Russell scored her 4th goal of the contest at 11:48 — the Ephs were now up 8-5. Lauren Morganlander increased the Ephs' lead to 9-5 at 5:02. Claudia Russell netted yet again at 4:09, giving the Ephs twice as many goals as the Bobcats. But Hanna Matthews shrunk the Ephs' lead at 1:54, finding the back of the net off a pass from Caroline Taggart and putting the Bobcats at 6-10 going into the second half.
The score remained stagnant for the first six minutes of the third quarter, but after an infraction and a goal that didn't count, Bates's Shelby Howard scored on a free position shot, putting the Bobcats at 7-10. With 6:58 left in the quarter, Madie Donovan took advantage of a player-up situation for the Bobcats, scoring her second goal of the contest and upping Bates's goal count to 8.
Isabel Arvelo extended the Ephs' lead back to 3 after netting at 6:24 on a free position shot. At 5:15, Shelby Howard took advantage of a player-up situation for Bates, scoring on a free position shot, putting the Bobcats at 9-11 going into the fourth quarter.
Paige Nelson '26 kicked off the fourth quarter with a successful free position shot during a player-up situation at 13:14, upping the Ephs' score to 12-9. Katy McCullough kept up the offensive momentum netting off a pass from Grace Collier at 11:20, which would be the final goal of the game, securing the Ephs' 13-9 win.
Bates goalie Cammie Lavoie made 13 saves and allowed 13 goals, while Williams goalie Caroline Pratt made 8 saves and allowed 9 goals on the day.
"Our team was very gritty today. They handled the ebbs and flows of the game really well," said head coach Alice Lee. "Kudos to Bates for being an athletic team who really challenged us in different ways. I thought our team really rose to the occasion and played as a unit, again with different people stepping up. Great way to end spring break."
Next up for the Ephs is an away game at Babson College in Babson Park, Mass., on Wednesday at 6 p.m.
