BABSON PARK, Mass.—Junior Claire Dunbar (Lutherville, Md.) scored four first-half goals to help ninth-ranked Amherst College defeat Babson College, 12-3, in non-conference women's lacrosse action on Sunday afternoon at MacDowell Field.

With its second consecutive loss, Babson slips to 2-3 on the year, while Amherst improves to 3-1 overall.

Junior Sara O'Connor (Marshfield, Mass.) scored twice and classmate Georgia Salvatore (Westwood, Mass.) added a goal for the Beavers, who also got one assist from first-year Erin Jayne (Merrimac, Mass.). Senior Valerie Quinlan (Westwood, Mass.) led all players with five draw controls, junior Juliana McGuire (Sparta, N.J.) won four, and classmate Cricket Fligor (Weston, Mass.) finished with 10 saves and three ground balls in a losing effort.

Junior Maia Noyes (Lexington, Mass.) recorded two goals, two assists, three draw controls and two caused turnovers, while senior Dani DiTommaso (Summit, N.J.) scored twice for the Mammoths. Senior Kelly Siebert (Syosset, N.Y.) added two caused turnovers and the duo of senior Talia Land (Larchmont, N.Y.) and sophomore Caroline Fischer (Providence, R.I.) made six saves in the win.

Dunbar set up sophomore Becky Kendall's (West Newton, Mass.) goal 24 seconds into the game and then scored three of Amherst's next four markers to make it 5-0 just past the midway point of the first half. DiTommaso converted a free-position chance at the 12:01 mark and junior Leah Ritterband (Manhasset, N.Y.) and Dunbar scored over the final 5:38 of the period to extend the Mammoths lead to 8-0 at the break.

Salvatore converted a feed from Jayne to put the Green and White on the board just under three minutes into the second half and O'Connor followed with the first of her two tallies to cut the deficit to 8-2 with 23:16 to play. The Beavers were unable to get any closer though, as Noyes converted a pair of free-position chances just 40 seconds apart to make it 10-2 at the 18:27 mark before first-year Katie Hadro (Longmeadow, Mass.) and senior Katherine Malone (Sudbury, Mass.) scored to give Amherst its largest lead at 12-2 with 7:35 remaining.

The Green and White held an 11-6 advantage in draw controls but was limited to a season-low 11 shots and committed 14 of its 25 turnovers in the opening half. The Mammoths were successful on 18-of-19 clear attempts and won the ground ball battle 26-15.

Babson returns to action on Thursday when it hosts the University of New England at 4:30 p.m., while Amherst travels to Bates on Saturday for a 12 p.m. start.

GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are now 1-7 all-time against Amherst.
• Babson failed to score a free-position goal for the first time in 35 games going back to 2018 on Sunday.
• Despite the loss, the Beavers are 7-2 over their last nine home games going back to last March.