Beavers Match School Record With Fifth Straight Shutout

BABSON PARK, Mass.—Senior Victoria Spofford (Merrimac, Mass.) finished with a goal and an assist as eighth-ranked Babson College pulled away to defeat WPI, 4-0, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) field hockey action on Saturday afternoon at MacDowell Field.

With its fifth straight win, Babson is now 10-1 overall and 3-0 in conference play, while WPI slips to 4-6 overall and 0-3 in the NEWMAC.

Junior Elise Towers (Cicero, N.Y.) and sophomores Lauren Drakeley (Woodbury, Conn.) and Ashley Tango (Reading, Mass.) all scored once for the Beavers. Senior Staci Swallow (South Portland, Maine) chipped in with an assist and first-year Deirdre Barry (Longmeadow, Mass.) did not have to make a save as the Green and White matched a school record set last season with its fifth consecutive shutout.

Sophomore Karen Noble (Mariaville, Maine) stopped nine shots and classmate Carrie Pozaic (West Wyoming, Pa.) finished with a first-half defensive save for the Engineers.

Babson outshot WPI 10-0 over the opening 35 minutes, but carried just a 1-0 lead into the break after Towers stuffed home the rebound of her own shot at the 12:34 mark. Noble turned away five first-half shots, including a kick save on Tango in the 14th minute to keep the margin at one.

The Beavers wasted little time extending their lead with a pair of goals just 72 seconds apart early in the second half. Drakeley converted a feed from Swallow at the 37:06 mark and Tango blasted home a pass from Spofford following a penalty corner at 38:18 to make it 3-0. Spofford later capped the scoring with her fifth tally of the year on a hard shot through traffic with just over 16 minutes to play.

The Green and White finished the afternoon with a 19-2 edge in shots and a 14-1 advantage in penalty corners.

Both teams return to action on Tuesday as Babson visits 16th-ranked Wellesley at 4 p.m., while WPI travels to crosstown rival Clark at 7 p.m.

GAME NOTES
•    The Beavers are now 20-15 all-time against WPI and have not conceded a goal to the Engineers in five straight games going back to 2011.
•    Babson has not allowed a goal in over 356 minutes going back to its only loss of the year, a 2-1 defeat against Tufts, on September 13.
•    Towers, who is riding an 11-game points streak, is now 10th in school history with 31 goals and 12th in points with 73.
•    The Green and White has won 29 consecutive games when scoring at least two goals.