MEDFORD, Mass. -- The No. 11 nationally ranked Bates field hockey team is headed to the NCAA quarterfinals for the first time in program history thanks to a 2-1 win over No. 7 Babson on Saturday in a game played on the campus of Tufts University.

Bates (14-6) broke the program record for wins in one season with Saturday's victory, and they got their revenge against the Beavers (19-4), who not only had defeated the Bobcats 3-0 during the regular season this year, but had also eliminated Bates from the NCAA tournament last year in a 1-0 OT second-round heartbreaker for the Bobcats.

This time, Bates eliminated Babson. The Bobcats take on sectionals host Tufts in the "Elite 8" Sunday at 1 p.m.

Senior Anna Cote (New Gloucester, Maine) scored her eighth game-winning goal of the season, the most this century for Bates, when she found the back of the cage on a penalty corner in the 36th minute to put the Bobcats ahead for good. Junior Brooke Moloney-Kolenberg (Winchester, Mass.) delivered the insert on the corner to Cote at the top of the shooting area. Cote passed the ball to her right to senior captain Anna Lindeis (New Canaan, Conn.), and Lindeis passed it right back to Cote, who had taken a few steps towards the cage. Cote was able to one-time the ball into the lower left side of the cage for a 2-1 Bates lead. It's Cote's 13th goal of the season, the most for a Bates field hockey player since at least the mid-1980s. 

The Bobcats hung on from there, as sophomore Haley Dwight (West Newbury, Mass.) made a key defensive save with 6:58 left in the third quarter and first-year goalkeeper Ava Donohue (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.) tallied two of her eight saves in the fourth quarter. Babson's last shot came in the 59th minute and Donohue fended off a rocket off the stick of Caroline DiGiovanni to preserve the lead. 

Both of the Bates goals on Saturday came off penalty corners, the first one putting the Bobcats up 1-0 in the seventh minute. Moloney-Kolenberg delivered the insert to senior captain Amanda Zerbib (Larchmont, N.Y.), who executed the stick-stop to perfection for her fellow team captain Lindeis. Lindeis ripped a shot right down the middle for her third goal of the season. 

Babson answered in the 13th minute. Katie Guden got the ball in the shooting circle and swept it to Laney Reed, who was open on the near side. Reed scored from up-close and the game stood tied at one.

The Beavers finished the day with 17 shots, 10 on goal. Donohue and the Bates defense stood tall, denying all four of Babson's penalty corners. Meanwhile, Bates only recorded 10 shots, three on goal. But two of their three shots on goal found the back of the cage. The Bobcats were successful on two of their five penalty corners.

Babson emptied the net with less than three minutes remaining but could not tally a second equalizer. The win snaps a six-game losing streak for Bates against Babson. Bates head coach Dani Kogut is now 7-6 in her career against the Beavers.

The Bobcats are on a "revenge tour" this postseason. Babson joins two NESCAC foes as teams Bates lost to in the regular season, but beat in the postseason. The Bobcats lost to Wesleyan and Middlebury during the regular season, then beat both teams on the road in the NESCAC tournament. Bates' next opponent is Tufts, a team that beat the Bobcats in both the regular season and in the NESCAC championship game. So if Bates is to make the Final Four, they will need to get revenge against the Jumbos as well.