BABSON PARK, Mass.—Sophomore Yoshiko Slater (Laurel, Md.) scored in the 44th minute to break a 2-2 tie and that stood as the game-winner as third-seeded Emerson College edged second-seeded Babson College, 3-2, in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) women's soccer tournament semifinal Thursday afternoon at MacDowell Field.

With the win, Emerson improves to 11-3-5 overall and advances to the tournament championship game for the first time in program history. No. 25 Babson, which entered the week second in the NCAA Region II rankings, had a six-game winning streak snapped and drops to 14-4-1 overall. The Beavers will hope for an NCAA Tournament at-large berth when the field is announced on Monday.

Sophomore Elisa Diletizia (Canton, Mass.) scored for the Beavers, who also benefitted from an own goal. Senior Morgan Fedosiewich (Ottawa, Ontario) made four saves in goal in the setback.

Senior Cali Bruce (Glen Allen, Va.) and junior Brittney Righetti (San Francisco, Calif.) also tallied goals for the Lions and senior Ainslee MacQuarrie (Kensington, N.H.) and sophomore Lauren Carlson (Fountain Hills, Calif.) picked up assists. Sophomore Amara Schaub (Torrance, Calif.) made three saves for the visitors to post the win.

After the teams played to a 0-0 draw in the regular season contest, they erupted for all five goals of the game in the first half. Bruce put the Lions on the board in the seventh minute when her free kick from 20 yards out eluded the defensive wall and snuck into the left corner off the hands of Fedosiewich. Babson nearly tied it up in the 10th minute but a shot by graduate student Izzy Lynch (Niskayuna, N.Y.) hit the crossbar.

The Lions doubled their lead in the 20th minute when Righetti took a pass in the middle of the offensive zone and fired a beautiful shot from 20 yards out into the upper left corner of the goal.

Babson got on the board less than four minutes later when Diletizia ran down a through ball on the left side, cut back against a defender and rifled a laser over the keeper just under the cross bar. The Beavers leveled the score in the 29th minute when a feed into the box by junior Cassie Lawson (Davie, Fla.) was inadvertently headed backwards by an Emerson defender over the keeper's head into the net for a Babson own goal.

Emerson pulled ahead 3-2 with just under two minutes remaining in the half on a corner kick. Carlson sent the corner into the box, where Slated knocked it in for her third of the season.

Neither team was able to score in the second half. Diletizia nearly scored for Babson in the 53rd minute but her shot hit the crossbar. The Beavers outshot the Lions 6-4 in the second half to finish with an 11-9 advantage for the game and an 8-3 margin in corner kicks.

The Lions will play either top-seeded MIT or fourth-seeded Clark in Saturday's NEWMAC Championship game.

GAME NOTES
• Babson owns a 6-3-2 advantage in the all-time series against Emerson but the Lions snapped a three-game skid against the Beavers. The last six encounters have been decided by no more than one goal.
• The Lions are 2-0 against Babson in the NEWMAC Tournament, having won 1-0 back in 2018.
• The Beavers gave up only three goals in the first half all season prior to surrendering three against Emerson.
• The Green and White trailed at the half for the first time in its last 27 games.