DRYDEN, N.Y. — Lexie Perticone and Sarah Lux each scored twice and Colby withstood a second-half comeback by Williams to earn an 8-6 win in the third round of the NCAA Division III women’s lacrosse tournament Saturday.

Despite the absence of two injured starters, including leading scorer Lindsey McKenna, the Mules (11-6) advanced to the quarterfinals for the fourth time in five seasons. They’ll face top-ranked Cortland State (21-0) at 1 p.m. Sunday, seeking a spot in the semifinals next weekend at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Colby got an unexpected boost from Perticone, a freshman who had appeared in only three games and had one goal. She scored back-to-back goals in the first half to give the Mules a 3-1 lead.

“She hasn’t seen a lot of time on the field for us,” said Colby defensive leader Kirsten Karis. “She came up huge.”

Colby led 5-2 with nine minutes remaining, but Williams cut the deficit to 5-4 with 7:06 left. Colby answered with three straight goals – by Lindsay McCabe, Lux and Alex Mintz – to put the game out of reach and avoid a repeat of their regular-season matchup, when the Mules blew a late three-goal lead and lost in double overtime.

“I think what was different was we didn’t step on the brakes,” Colby Coach Karen MacCrate Henning said. “We kept our foot on the gas pedal. It was really important that we didn’t stop attacking, which is what we did in our last game (with them).”

Abby Hatch had an outstanding all-around game with a goal, an assist, five draw controls and four ground balls. Michelle Burt and Claire Dickson combined for 13 saves.

“I think a lot of what we’ve been focusing on is being the team that we’ve developed into, instead of being the team that we were in the past,” said Dickson, who played the second half and made nine saves. “Every game is a new opportunity to show how far we’ve come.”

BASEBALL

UMAINE: The regular-season finale against Maryland-Baltimore County was washed out by rain and will be played at 10 a.m. Sunday at Mahaney Diamond.

Maine (24-26, 10-10 America East Conference) will honor its eight seniors before the game.

The Black Bears have already clinched a spot in the four-team conference tournament next week in Lowell, Massachusetts, and appear to be getting hot at the right time. Maine has won its last four games by a combined total of 44-7.