BABSON PARK, Mass.—Senior Caroline Malone (Walpole, Mass.) and sophomore Victoria Spofford (Merrimac, Mass.) both scored early in the first half to lift Babson College to a 2-1 victory over Clark University in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) field hockey action on Saturday afternoon at MacDowell Field.

With the win, Babson moves to 4-3 overall and 1-0 in conference play, while Clark drops to 4-3 overall and 0-1 in the NEWMAC.

Malone gave the Beavers the lead just 1:30 into the match with her third goal of the season. Cougars' junior goalkeeper Christine Tinsman (Prairie Village, Kan.) denied first-year Elise Towers (Cicero, N.Y.) but Malone buried the rebound for a 1-0 edge.

Spofford then made it 2-0 at the 11:15 mark, recording her third goal of the year with a blast from the right flank.

Despite Babson's 15-4 advantage in first-half shots, Tinsman made saves in the opening 35 minutes and Clark cut its deficit in half on the final play of the period. After earning a penalty corner in the waning seconds of the stanza, senior Kiah Murphy (Westport, Mass.) converted a feed from junior Maria Manning (Manchester, N.H.) to make it 2-1 at the break.

The Beavers dominated play throughout the second half, racking up 11 shots and six corners, but were unable to extend their lead. Tinsman denied an attempt by Spofford in the 49th minute and then made a pair of saves on back-to-back shots by Towers and first-year Jacki Merrigan (Canton, Mass.) just moments later to keep the margin at one.

After Babson survived a yellow card in the 56th minute, junior goalkeeper Kayla Costa (Watertown, Mass.) made a sprawling pad save on sophomore Lauren Mackey (Dublin, N.H.) with 5:10 left to maintain the one-goal lead, and the hosts escaped the Cougars' only penalty corner of the half just 43 seconds later to hold on for the win.

Costa finished with two saves for the Green and White, while Tinsman stopped 10 shots on the day for Clark.

The Beavers held a 26-6 edge in shots and attempted 10 of the game's 14 corners.

Both teams return to action on Tuesday as Babson hosts Eastern Connecticut State University at 4:30 p.m., while Clark will take on Anna Maria College at 7 p.m.

GAME NOTES: Babson is now 14-15-2 all-time against Clark and has won 11 straight meetings between the two squads going back to 2004…the Beavers have now won four straight conference openers since 2010…Babson has won its last nine games when leading at the half and is 3-0 this season when scoring first…the Beavers have won 25 straight games when holding their opponents to one goal or less going back to October 22, 2012.