Beavers Set Program Record With Ninth Straight Win While Advancing to Conference Final For Fourth Consecutive Year

BABSON PARK, Mass.—First-year Niall Dillon (Duxbury, Mass.) scored a career-high five goals and second-seeded Babson College built a seven-goal lead early in the second quarter before holding off third-seeded MIT, 12-11, in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament semifinal on Wednesday night at rain-soaked MacDowell Field.

Babson (10-7), which set a single-season program record with its ninth consecutive victory, advances to the league championship game for the fourth year in a row. MIT, which matched its single-season wins record set back in 1969, sees its season come to a close at 12-5.

Senior Spencer Low (Natick, Mass.) had two goals and one assist, while first-year Samuel Mishkind (Chappaqua, N.Y.) scored twice for the Beavers. Junior Connor Hinton (Florham Park, N.J.) won 8-of-12 face-offs and picked up four ground balls, and sophomore Jack O'Donoghue (Scituate, Mass.) chipped in with a team-high five ground balls.

Senior Jonah Hessels (Laytonsville, Md.) scored a season-high four goals, all in the second half, to lead the Engineers. Junior Harris Stolzenberg (Weston, Fla) chipped in with two goals and two assists, while sophomore David Klee (East Greenbush, N.Y.) led all players with seven ground balls and four caused turnovers.

Stolzenberg gave MIT a 1-0 lead 46 seconds into the contest before the Green and White ripped off the next eight goals. Dillon and Low scored 26 seconds apart to make it 2-1 at the 10:20 mark, and Mishkind followed 56 seconds later to extend the lead to 3-1.

Tallies by seniors Scott Doten (Western Springs, Ill.) and Brendan Coan (Towson, Md.)gave the Beavers a 5-1 advantage, and Dillon completed his first-quarter hat trick with consecutive markers to make it 7-1. Miskind scored off a turnover to cap the run at 12:53 of the second quarter before goals by senior Paul Orrson (Baltimore, Md.) and Stolzenberg pulled the Engineers back within 8-3 at the break.

Dillon and Low opened the third quarter with consecutive markers to push the Babson lead to 10-3 at the 11:55 mark. Dillon then followed Orrson's second tally with his fifth goal of the night to match the Beavers' biggest lead of the game at 11-4 with 7:05 left in the stanza.

MIT wouldn't go quietly though, as Hessels and senior Luke Verdi (Middletown, Md.) combined for three goals in the span of 2:55 to get within 11-7 late in the third quarter. Hessels converted a feed from Stolzenberg four and a half minutes into the fourth, while sophomore Mitch Turley (Westfield, Ind.) and classmate Graham Davis (Crofton, Md.) scored 1:20 apart to cap a six-goal spurt that cut the Beavers' lead to 11-10 with 5:49 to play.

Following turnovers by both teams, Babson first-year Brendan Duffy (Duxbury, Mass.) scored off a rebound following an MIT turnover to push the lead back to 12-10. Hessels responded with his fourth goal of the night, as the Engineers cut their deficit back to one with 1:03 remaining. Following a long scrum on the ensuing face-off, O'Donoghue gained possession with 41 seconds remaining and the Green and White ran out the clock to seal the win.

Sophomore Jordan Shapiro (Pleasantville, N.Y.) made nine stops for Babson, while senior Eric Bartell (San Diego, Calif.) finished with 10 saves for MIT.

The Engineers held a slim edge in shots (44-41) and ground balls (41-36), while the Beavers won 14-of-26 face-offs and converted 22-of-24 clears.

Babson will travel to top-seeded Springfield for the NEWMAC championship game on Saturday at 1 p.m.

GAME NOTES
• The Beavers have won nine straight games against MIT and are 3-0 all-time against the Engineers in the conference playoffs.
• Babson's nine-game winning streak surpasses the 2014 squad, which won eight straight games, for the longest winning streak in school history.
• The Beavers have now reached 10 wins in each of the last seven seasons.
• The Green and White has won seven of its last eight conference playoff games at MacDowell Field.