April 15, 2008

Box Score

BABSON PARK, Mass. - Tenth-ranked Babson College used a 46-14 shot advantage to overwhelm visiting Wellesley College, as the Beavers defeated the Blue, 19-6, in a matchup of New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) archrivals on Tuesday night. With its fifth straight win, Babson improved to 11-1 overall and 4-0 in the conference, while Wellesley dropped its second in a row to fall to 7-5 overall and 3-2 in the NEWMAC.

Wellesley junior goalie Kristin Jaronczyk (Manhasset, N.Y.) kept her team in the game early, making seven of her 12 first-half saves in the first 14 minutes to hold Babson to just four goals during that span. Meanwhile, the Blue scored on their first four shot attempts of the contest, including sophomore Molly Morrow's (Bow, N.H.) second of the game with 16:41 left that knotted the score at 4-4.

Babson's well-balanced offensive attack finally began pulling away over the final 15 minutes of the opening stanza, as five different players scored during a 5-0 run that gave the Beavers a 9-4 lead at the break. Wellesley sophomore Haley Geller (Berkeley, Calif.) then scored her third goal of the game to cut the Blue's deficit to 9-5 at the start of the second half, but the contest would be all Babson from that point on. Sophomore Kaitlyn Pettengill (Hopkinton, Mass.) scored the first of her four goals in the period with 27:04 remaining, sparking a 10-1 run over the remainder of the contest that would result in the 19-6 victory.

Pettengill was outstanding on offense for the Beavers, scoring a game-high six goals while also collecting four draw controls. Junior Jackie Godfrey (Franklin, Mass.) added four goals and one assist for five points, while junior Lindsey Bucci (Medford, Mass.) tossed in three goals and three assists for six points despite sitting out most of the second half. Junior Kate Nichols (Andover, Mass.) anchored the team's stellar defensive performance with three ground balls and four caused turnovers, and rookie goalie Sarah Macary (Woodbury, Conn.) shook off a slow start to finish with four saves.

Other noteworthy performances for Babson included senior tri-captain Anita Martignetti (Winchester, Mass.), who recorded two goals and a game-high seven draw controls, and senior Katie Boshko (Huntington, N.Y.), who scored her first goal of the season after sitting out the team's first 11 games with an injury.

Wellesley received three goals, one assist, three groundballs, and two CTs from Geller, as well as two goals and one assist from Morrow. Junior Catherine Schaefer (Coxsackie, N.Y.) rounded out the Blue's scoring with a goal, and Jaronczyk finished a valiant effort in net with 14 saves.