March 27, 2008

Box Score

BABSON PARK, Mass. - Junior Amy Craig (Denver, Colo.) scored three of her game-high five goals during a 6-0 first-half run to power the eighth-ranked Amherst College Lady Jeffs to a 12-8 win over seventh-ranked host Babson College in a battle of unbeaten women's lacrosse teams at MacDowell Field on Thursday night. With the win, Amherst improved to 6-0 on the year, while the Beavers suffered their first defeat to fall to 6-1.

Junior Jackie Godfrey (Franklin, Mass.) put Babson in front with an unassisted score just 1:43 into the game, but the Jeffs answered with a six-goal run that was sparked by three straight scores from Craig. Senior Maddie Hoeg (Shoreham, N.Y.), sophomore Hannah Walker (Greenwich, Conn.), and junior Mary Noonan (West Roxbury, Mass.) also netted goals during the run, which gave Amherst a 6-1 advantage with 12:42 remaining in the first half. Babson would cut its deficit to 7-4 over the next 11 minutes, but Noonan struck for her second of the game with just under a minute remaining in the half to give the Jeffs an 8-4 lead heading into the break.

Babson came out firing in the second half, trimming its deficit to just two on back-to-back goals from Godfrey with 21 minutes remaining. However, Amherst halted the Beavers' momentum when sophomore Tyler Tory-Murphy (Sea Cliff, N.Y.) scored an unassisted goal with 15:37 remaining, pushing the Jeffs' advantage back to three at 9-6. Craig followed with a free position goal at 13:13 and first-year Kelly Trapp (Monterey, Calif.) converted a feed from Noonan at 7:30 as Amherst built an 11-7 lead. Babson would manage two straight scores from senior Anita Martignetti (Winchester, Mass.) and junior Lindsay Bucci (Medford, Mass.) in the final seven minutes, but the Jeffs successfully stalled over the final three minutes and Craig netted her fifth of the game with a second left to finish off the 12-8 victory.

Amherst senior goalie Linda McEvoy (Rochester, N.Y.) finished with 10 saves in net, including six in the second half, while Babson first-year Sarah Macary (Woodbury, Conn.) stopped eight shots in defeat.