WILLIAMSTOWN, MA - Four straight goals to open the second half lifted Chris Mason's Williams women's lacrosse team out of a three all tie with Bates and boosted the Ephs to a 14-9 win on Lamb Field.

Just one minute into the contest Morgan Maciewicz put Bates on top. Molly Wagner was credited with the assist. Williams answered the Bates goal with three consecutive goals with Britt Spackman scoring the first and Elizabeth Pierce netting the next two.

Bates erased the Eph two-goal lead by netting two free position goals to close out the half. Katelyn Drake netted the first one at 4:50 and Avery Masters scored the second at 2:54.

In the first 5:42 of the second half the Ephs scored four consecutive goals to take control of the contest. Pierce netted three and Spackman one giving the Ephs a 7-3 lead.

Maciewicz scored off a free position shot at 23:32 to draw Bates within three, 7-4, but that tally was answered by a free position goal by Britt Spackman and another by Tina Nawrocki, making the Eph lead 9-4. Drake got one of the goals back for Bates at 17:59 with an unassisted tally, but the Ephs' Sara duPont netted a free position score.

With Williams leading 10-5 with 17:45 to play the Bobcats scored two goals in a row to make the score 10-7. Molly Dilworth scored off a feed from Maciewicz and Caroline Thomas registered an unassisted goal.

The Ephs and Bobcats then alternated scoring the next four goals with Pierce scoring for Williams, Maciewicz for Bates, Spackman for Williams and Thomas for Bates. Thomas' goal came off a rebound of her free position opportunity at 7:35 and made the score 12-9 in favor of Williams.

The Ephs then closed out the contest with the final two goals. Pierce netted her seventh goal at 7:35 and Julia Nawrocki tallied off a feed from Sara Dupont with 15.2 seconds left.

"I told them at the half that they could not possibly be tired after not running in the first half," said Eph head coach Chris Mason. "We just decided to go out and run and play the way we can. We still need to work on the little things like coming up with the ball after checks and getting into transition quicker, but this was a good win."

With the win the Ephs move to 3-1 on the year and 3-0 in NESCAC play, while Bates falls to 5-3 on the year and 0-3 in NESCAC.

Senior attack Elizabeth Pierce led the Eph offense with seven goals, scoring three out of the first four goals to open the second half and totaling five in the second half. Sophomore midfielder Britt Spackman added four goals and three assists for Williams and senior goalie Abby Taylor made 10 saves.

Morgan Maciewicz, a first year midfielder, led the Bobcats with three goals and one assist, while sophomore midfielder Caroline Thomas and first year Katelyn Drake added a pair of goals. Junior goalie Katie Nickerson made 16 saves in 56:21.

Next up for the Ephs is a 1:00 p.m. game tomorrow afternoon at Skidmore in Saratoga Springs, NY.

2007-04-01