Curley Records 100th Career Point as Beavers' Win 15th Straight Game

BABSON PARK, Mass.—Junior Brianne McGrath (Newmarket, Ontario) recorded her first career hat trick as top-seeded Babson College defeated fifth-seeded WPI, 5-0, in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament semifinal on Thursday night at MacDowell Field.

With its 15th straight win, the third-ranked Beavers improve to 19-1 overall and advance to the conference tournament final for the third time since 2016. WPI, which was making its second consecutive NEWMAC semifinal appearance, sees its season come to an end at 11-7.

Senior Millie Brady (Far Hills, N.J.) finished with a goal and an assist, classmate Lauren Curley (Stow, Mass.) scored once and fellow senior Quinn Greer (Providence, R.I.) chipped in with an assist for the Beavers. Senior goalkeeper Cassidy Riley (Niantic, Conn.) finished with one save to record her eighth shutout of the season and the 21st of her career.

Junior Nini Acquista (Longmeadow, Mass.) finished with 17 saves to lead the Engineers.

The Green and White went in front 11:28 into the contest when Brady converted her first career penalty stroke after first-year Jessica Evans (Southbury, Conn.) was dragged down on a breakaway. McGrath doubled the lead with her 14th goal of the season 3:03 into the second, collecting a pass from graduate student Ellie Bisceglia (Kenilworth, Ill.) and creating space before burying her finish inside the right post.

Curley put away a feed from Greer at the left post just over three minutes into the third quarter to become the 11th player in school history with 100 points extending the Beavers' lead to 3-0. McGrath banged home a loose ball in front 8:10 into the fourth quarter for her second goal of the night and then completed the hat trick a little over two minutes later with a blast from the right side of the circle following a penalty corner for the final margin.

Babson finished with a 27-3 edge in shots, while both teams attempted six penalty corners in the match.

The Beavers will host second-seeded MIT in the NEWMAC Tournament final on Saturday at 12 p.m.

GAME NOTES
• Babson is 25-15 all-time against WPI, which includes three wins in four conference playoff games.
• The Beavers' 93 goals this fall are the most in school history surpassing the 91 scored by the 2005 team.
• McGrath extended her points streak to 11 games, while Curley and Greer pushed their points streaks to seven and six matches, respectively.
• Babson improved to 12-0 at home this season.
• During its current 15-game winning streak, the Beavers have outscored opponents 74-11.