LEWISTON — Clare McLaughlin scored the go-ahead goal goal with 3:05 remaining and Taylor Wilson scored four times to give the Bowdoin College women’s lacrosse team an 8-7 win at Bates on Wednesday night.

The seventh-ranked Polar Bears (7-2, 4-2 NESCAC) snapped a two-game losing skid despite the Bobcats’ (5-7, 1-6 NESCAC) scoring six of their goals on 8-meter shots in the loss. In addition to Wilson’s four goals, the senior midfielder added two ground balls and two draw controls. McLaughlin had a pair of scores for Bowdoin.

Only once in the evenly contested game did either team lead by more than a single score. Moriah Greenstein buried her third goal to make it 4-2 Bates with 10:18 to go in the first half. McLaughlin responded 50 seconds later with her first unassisted tally, and Wilson scored with 3:51 to go in the half to even the score at 4-4.

Bates’ Emma Noto ended a scoreless spell of over 22 minutes’ duration when she put Bates back ahead 5-4, flipping the ball from the left side of the circle inside the far post on an 8-meter attempt with 18:23 to go in the game.

Bowdoin responded with back-toback goals by Megan O’Connor (assisted by a perfectly timed entry pass from Lindsay Picard) and the Polar Bears’ lone free-position goal of the game, a Wilson tally with 14:24 to go that gave Bowdoin its first lead since 1-0, at 6-5.

Bates’ Camille Belletete controlled the ensuing draw and a patient Bates offense resulted in a free-position attempt for Suzannah Smith, which she faked low and shot high to even the game at 6-6 with 12:52 left.

The score remained knotted at 6-6 until 6:10 remained. Bates goalie Jeffrey advanced far away from Bates’ goal while trying to advance the ball past Bowdoin’s pressing attackers and midfielders. Goaltender Hannah Jeffrey rolled the ball backward toward a teammate in the direction of Bates’ goal; the ball wasn’t cleanly handled by the Bobcats, and Bowdoin’s Mettler Growney alertly picked the ball off the carpet, drove right and shot into an open net to make it 7-6 in Bowdoin’s favor.

Bates won the next draw and again patiently worked over the Bowdoin defense until another foul was whistled, giving Briody a free-position shot with 4:50 to go. Briody’s bounce shot from the top of the circle found the back of the net, tying the game for the sixth time at 7-7.

Bowdoin’s Picard won the ensuing draw and the Polar Bears held the ball for nearly two minutes, before McLaughlin attacked from the right goal-line extended and tucked a shot from a very tight angle past Jeffrey for the game-winner. Over three minutes remained in regulation, but Bowdoin’s Annie Glenn controlled the final draw and the Polar Bears were able to whittle the game clock away to hang on for the win.

Isabel Sippel stopped four shots for Bowdoin while Natalie Moore had two caused turnovers. Jeffrey kept her team in the contest with 15 saves on the night. The Polar Bears held a 28-17 edge in shots for the game.

Bowdoin will return to action with a non-conference game against Endicott on Saturday at 3 p.m.

Men’s Lacrosse

BRUNSWICK — Bates defeated Bowdoin for the first time since 2012 in a 15-8 triumph at Ryan Field on Wednesday evening.

The Bobcats improve to 5-4 (2-4 NESCAC) with the win while the Polar Bears fall to 1-8 (1-5 NESCAC).

Charlie Fay and Andrew Melvin led the way for Bates, scoring four goals apiece and both adding an assist in the victory. Jack Strain also had a pair of goals, as did Jack Allard for the visitors. Bowdoin was paced by two goals from Peter Reuter while David Nemirov and Matthew Crowell had a goal and an assist apiece.

The Bobcats jumped out of the gate quickly, using a 5-0 run to take a 6-1 lead over the Polar Bears just 8:57 into the contest. Fay and Melvin each scored twice in the run as Bates held a 6-2 edge after one quarter of play.

The visitors extended their lead to 9-3 before a 3-0 Bowdoin run, capped by a Nemirov score, closed the gap to 9-6 late in the period. But the Bobcats were able to push the lead back to four goals at halftime, 10-6, thanks to another goal from Melvin just 30 seconds before the break.

The Bobcat defense held Bowdoin scoreless for the first 23:02 of the second half and slowly pulled away, scoring twice in the third quarter and notching the first two goals of the final period to build a 14-6 advantage en route to the 15-8 victory.

Joe Faria made eight saves in net for Bates while Ken O’Friel had two caused turnovers and four ground balls to pace the Bates defense. For Bowdoin, Peter Mumford made 10 saves while Mac Caputi had two caused turnovers and four ground balls. Tucker White (9- 14) and Sam Francis (8-13) controlled the dot for Bates, combining to win 17 of 27 face-offs.

Bowdoin will return to action on Saturday when it hosts a non-conference match against Endicott at noon at Ryan Field.

Tennis

BRUNSWICK — The scheduled home tennis matches for Saturday have been moved indoors to the Farley Field House. Due to the site change, the men’s match against Brandeis has been moved up to an 11 a.m. start. The women will play MIT at 4 p.m.