The Bates College Bobcats scored the first three goals and never looked back en route to a 19-9 NESCAC win against the Hamilton College Continentals at Hamilton's Steuben Field on Saturday afternoon.

Chris Conley '20, Henry Hill '19, Clay McCollum '19 and Christian Hansson '19 scored two goals each for the Continentals (1-8, 0-5 NESCAC). Conley leads the team with 22 points on 15 goals and seven assists. Eric Zurmuehle '18 won 14 of 27 faceoffs and picked up nine ground balls, and Owen McCarthy '20 collected four ground balls. Kyle Gately '20 came up with 18 saves, including six in the first quarter.

Clarke Jones posted six goals, three assists and eight ground balls for Bates (6-4, 2-3). The Bobcats have won five of their last six games. Matt Chlastawa chipped in four goals, five helpers and six ground balls. Brendan Mullally added three goals and an assist. Eli Cooper won half of his 22 faceoffs and scooped up seven ground balls. Rocco Fantoni led the defense with four caused turnovers and five ground balls, and Will Haskell caused three turnovers. Rob Strain made seven saves and Mitchell Drake stopped four more shots in the final three minutes in relief of Strain.

Goals by Curtis Knapton, Jones and Chlastawa gave Bates a 3-0 lead midway through the first quarter. Zach Larsen '19 found Conley for Hamilton's first goal with 5:07 left in the first quarter. Larsen has a team-high eight assists. Mullally and Jones made it 5-1 with goals on passes from Chlastawa late in the first. The Continentals pulled within 5-2 with 25.8 seconds remaining in the quarter when Zurmuehle won a faceoff, picked up the loose ball and fed McCollum for the goal.

The Bobcats owned the second quarter as they ripped off five straight goals and went into the break with a 10-2 cushion. Jones had two goals and an assist, and Jack Scribner added a goal and a helper during the quarter. Chlastawa's man-up tally with 3:05 to go in the second gave Bates the eight-goal lead. The Bobcats outshot Hamilton 36-14 and held a 29-14 advantage in ground balls in the first half.

The Continentals tried to rally and pulled within four goals twice in the third quarter. Conley scored the first of four straight Hamilton goals and Hansson made it 10-4 with 10:45 left when he scored from a tough angle on the right side of the goal after a feed from Brendan Burke '18. McCollum and Hill followed with goals and the Continentals were down just 10-6 with 7:37 remaining in the third. Jones stopped the bleeding for Bates 77 seconds later but a man-up goal by Hill on a pass from Chad Morse '19 cut Hamilton's deficit to four again with 2:39 to go in the quarter.

The Bobcats clinched their victory by scoring the last two goals of the third quarter and the first two goals of the fourth. After Fantoni intercepted a pass near the edge of Bates' defensive zone, Jones hurried a pass to Chlastawa who scored to make it 13-7 just before the horn sounded at the end of the third quarter. Scores by Dahnique Brown-Jones and Mullally opened up an eight-goal lead again with 11:58 left, and the Bobcats cruised from there.

The Continentals, who were playing at home for the first time in more than three weeks, will host Middlebury College for another NESCAC game on Wednesday, April 4 at 4:30 p.m.