Beavers Score 16 Consecutive Goals, Set to Return to NCAA Tournament for First Time Since 2018

SPRINGFIELD, Mass.—Third-seeded Babson College used a 16-goal run that spanned parts of both halves on the way to defeating top-seeded Springfield College, 22-4, in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament final on Saturday afternoon at Staag Field.

With the win, Babson (4-1) claims its first conference tournament championship since 2018 and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Springfield, which is ranked first in the NCAA North Region rankings, suffered its first loss of the year to drop to 4-1.

Sophomore Erin Jayne (Merrimac, Mass.) finished with five goals and an assist, senior Sara O'Connor (Marshfield, Mass.) scored a career-high four times, and senior Georgia Salvatore (Westwood, Mass.) and sophomore Claudia Dodge (Pelham, N.Y.) tallied three times apiece to lead the Beavers' offense. Graduate student Valerie Quinlan (Norwood, Mass.) had a goal and three assists to go along with a career-high 12 draw controls on the way to earning NEWMAC Tournament Most Outstanding Player honors.

Senior Kate Sarnacki (Granby, Mass.) had two goals and two assists to go along with a game-high caused turnovers to lead the Pride.

The Green and White led 4-2 just over seven minutes into the contest and got goals from Dodge, Quinlan and sophomore Courtney Kaskey (Winnetka, Ill.) in the span of 56 seconds to stretch the margin to 7-2. Salvatore and junior Sophia McCann (Duxbury, Mass.) scored 25 seconds apart for a seven-goal advantage less than 10 minutes into the game, and O'Connor notched her third goal for a 10-2 lead at the 16:34 mark.

Dodge and Jayne combined for four consecutive tallies and Salvatore converted a free-position chance to push the margin to 15-2 with under seven minutes to go before the half. Sophomore Anna Katherine Sypniewski (Vero Beach, Fla.) tacked another free-position marker two minutes later to make it 16-2 after 30 minutes.

Jayne, Kaskey and Salvatore all scored in the first five minutes of the second half, and Jayne tallied for the fifth time to cap the Beavers' 16-goal run extending the lead to 20-2 with 22:58 to play in the game.

Senior Cricket Fligor (Weston, Mass.) finished with nine saves for Babson, which finished with a 20-9 edge in draw controls and outshot the Pride 30-16.

The Beavers will find out where they are headed for the opening round of the NCAA Tournament when the pairings are unveiled on Monday at 10:30 a.m.

GAME NOTES
• Babson is 20-19 all-time against the Pride, which includes a 9-6 mark in the postseason.
• Saturday marked the fifth consecutive season that the Beavers have faced Springfield in the NEWMAC Tournament final, and was also the 11th meeting in the last 12 editions of the conference playoffs going back to 2009.
• Babson's 22 goals are its most in 39 all-time games against Springfield.
• Prior to Saturday, seven of the last nine games between the teams had been decided by two goals or less.
• The road team has now won six of the last seven NEWMAC Tournament championship games between Babson and Springfield.