Waterville, Maine – The No. 9 Colby College women's lacrosse team scored four unanswered goals over the final 7:51 minutes of regulation to knock off No. 2 Trinity, 11-10, on Saturday afternoon in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) action at Bill Alfond Field. The contest was the season opener for both teams in chilly condition in the Pine Tree State.

Much of Saturday's game came down to draw controls, with both teams doing a fine job of possessing the ball. Colby had a 12-11 edge in draw controls, but the scoring runs came when the teams won the draw control battles.

Trailing by goal late in the second half, Colby's Abby Hatch knotted the game at 10 with just over three minutes left. With under a minute remaining, Hatch struck again to net the game-winner with Emilie Klein registering the assist. Trinity won the ensuing draw control, but was unable to fire a shot on goal.

The Mules held the advantage in draw controls early in the contest to build a 4-1 edge in the first 13 minutes of play. Hatch had assists on three of the four Colby goal as Lexie Perticone and Abby Hooper gave the Mules a 2-0 lead. Trinity senior tri-captain Renee Olsen (Ridgewood, N.J.) cut the margin in half as she scored off feed from junior Martha Griffin (Exeter, N.H.).

Emilie Klein scored on a free-position shot for the Mules and then Colby took a 4-1 lead after a Hatch to Hatch sister score. Abby Hatch had her third assist to Maddie Hatch, who turned and scored on her first collegiate shot.

The Bantams settled down and scored four straight goals in a span of 7:28 to take their first lead of the game and the season. Senior Molly Cox (Norwell, Mass.) scored with 8:59 to intermission as first-year Georgia Mergner (West Caldwell, N.J.) picked up her first collegiate point. Sophomore Karly Simpson (South Hadley, Mass.) added a score with 3:51 left, senior Caroline Hayes (Greenland, N.H.) scored on a free-position shot with 2:35 to go, and Simpson scored from Hayes with 1:31 remaining.

Abby Hatch scored her first of the game with just 6.1 seconds left to halftime on a free-position shot to tie the game at five heading into halftime.

Trinity scored the first three goals of the second half to go up 8-5. Cox netted an unassisted tally less than two minutes in to give the visitors the lead back. Sophomore Clare Lyne (Concord, Mass.) netted her first of the season off a feed from Olsen eight minutes later and first-year and Abby McInerney (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) registered her first career marker to put the Bantams up by three as Cox picked up an assist on the play.

The hosts ended the Bantams surge with two straight goals to pull within one at 8-7. Griffin stopped the Colby run with a pair of goals to stretch the Trinity lead back to three at 10-7 with eight and a half minutes left in the game.

Dana Swaffield started the Colby four-goal run to end the game as she converted a free-position shot with 7:51 remaining to make it a 10-8 contest. With time becoming a factor, Swaffield had her second assist and her fourth point of the half on Hooper's third goal of the game with 3:21 remaining to pull the Mules within one at 10-9.

Hatch finished the day with three goals, three assists, seven draw controls and two groundballs. Hooper also had three goals, while Swaffield had her two goals and two assists in the second half. Klein had a goal, an assist, three caused turnover, and two groundballs.

Cox and Griffin each had two goals and one assist for the Bantams. Simpson finished with a pair of goals. Lyne had four draw controls and Hayes added three of her own. Griffin also finished with two caused turnovers.

Claire Dickson made six saves for Colby and Emily Mooney (New York, N.Y.) turned aside six shots in a losing effort for Trinity.

Trinity returns to action on Tuesday, Mar. 3, with a non-conference clash with regional rival Springfield at Sheppard Field.