BANGOR – When Bates College junior striker Andrew Apstein pounced on a loose ball in the midfield, he looked up and liked what he saw: just one Husson College defender between him and Braves goalie Mark Cucinelli.

Apstein shifted into high gear, created some space for himself with a nifty inside-out move and rifled a rising 16-yarder into the far corner with 16 minutes, 54 seconds remaining in regulation to cement the Bobcats’ 4-2 victory over Husson.

Bates is now 4-3 while Husson fell to 9-3-1. The Braves had their seven-game unbeaten streak (6-0-1) snapped.

“I used my favorite move,” said Apstein, a Newton, Mass., native. “Then I saw the goalie leaning one way [toward the near post] so I hit it to the other side.”

Apstein, who scored with his left foot, now has five goals on the season.

“That was a rocket,” said Cucinelli.

Senior Eric Trickett scored a pair of goals for Bates, including the game-winner with five minutes left in the first half; Sted the other goal and Drew Weymouth had a couple of assists.

Chris Allen and Joey Melanson scored for Husson with Richard Duffy setting up both.

“This will put our feet back on the ground,” said Husson coach Mitch Ellisen, whose Braves will entertain UM-Farmington in a critical Maine Athletic Conference game on Saturday afternoon. “I don’t like to lose but I thought we played reasonably well.”

Ellisen thought his team played better in the second half.

“We were very direct in the first half. But we found the open man in the second half,” said Ellisen.

Bates had a significant advantage in time of possession in the first half and manufactured 21 shots at goal to Husson’s six. But the Bobcats took only a 3-2 lead into the intermission.

The shots were seven apiece in the second half. Despite Husson’s upgrade in its level of play, Bates got numbers behind the ball and defended very efficiently.

Husson and Bates were tied 1-1 just 1:30 into the game as Allen roofed a Duffy cross 29 seconds into the game before Coco equalized by making a diagonal left-to-right run across the top of the penalty area and slotting a low 18-yarder inside the post to Cucinelli’s right.

An exceptional individual effort by Weymouth created Trickett’s first goal of the season and a 2-1 lead. Weymouth snaked his way through two defenders and crossed to the far post where the unmarked Trickett simply had to head it into the empty net.

Melanson tied it up off a perfect straight-ahead through ball from Duffy. Melanson flicked the ball past the left arm of Bates goalie Brian Anton.

Trickett’s game-winner was set up by Chris Sporcic, who laid the ball over to him so he could run onto it.

“The goalie was in the center of the net,” said Trickett who added that he just concentrated on striking the ball squarely.

“I got my fingertip on it but not enough to make a save,” said Cucinellii, who was beat to the far post from 17 yards out.

Anton finished with three saves while Cucinelli had six.