GORHAM, Maine – Senior John Murphy (Yarmouth, Maine) scored three goals and had two assists to lead the visiting Bates College Bobcats to a 5-1 victory over the University of Southern Maine Huskies Wednesday afternoon in a non-conference men's soccer match at played Hannaford Field.

            The win snapped a six-game winless streak (0-5-1) for the Bobcats, and improved their overall record to 3-7-2.  The Huskies dropped their second straight match to slide to 4-11-0.

            Murphy provided the Bobcats all the offense they would need, doubling his season point total.  The senior captain, who came into the match with eight points on the season, put the visitors up 1-0 at the 20:00 mark converting on a Southern Maine mistake in the back.

            Senior Nick Barron (Kirkwood, Mo.) made it 2-0 off a set piece in the 37th minute.  Barron got his head to a cross curled into the box by Murphy just enough to change the direction past USM freshman goalkeeper Korey Mulherin (Leeds, Maine/Leavitt).  The goal was Barron's first of the campaign.

            Murphy added the Bobcats' third goal shortly before halftime out of a scramble in front of Mulherin.

            Southern Maine got on the board in the second half as sophomore Mazen Aljari (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia) received a through pass from rookie Ahmed Ben Afif (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia) and slid a 15-yard shot out of the reach of Bates rookie keeper Sam Polito (Far Hills, N.J.) for his seventh marker of the season in the 63rd minute.

            A minute later, Murphy set up rookie Nick Ford (Columbus, Ohio) for Ford's first collegiate goal.  Murphy closed out the scoring in the 76th minute with an opportunistic goal in front of the net off an assist from rookie Luis Pereira (Curitiba, Brazil).  Murphy now has six goals and four assists on the season.

            Polito was credited with 10 saves before giving way to classmate Zach Shabman (Scarsdale, N.Y.) in the 82nd minute.  Shabman made two stops over the final eight minutes.  Mulherin split the USM goaltending chores with classmate Chad O'Brien (Providence, R.I.) as each played a half.  Mulherin made one save while O'Brien registered six stops.

            Bates had a 25-18 edge in shots in the first-paced match, and a 7-4 advantage in corner kicks.

            Southern Maine hits the road Saturday (1:00 p.m.) for a Little East Conference match at Eastern Connecticut State University.  Bates will also be on the road this Saturday (11:00 a.m.) playing a NESCAC match at Middlebury College.