BABSON PARK, Mass.— No. 6 Middlebury College registered a six-goal rally in the first half and a seven-goal surge in the second half and went on to a 16-5 victory over Babson College Sunday afternoon in a non-conference women's lacrosse game at MacDowell Field.

With the outcome, Middlebury improves to 3-0 on the season while the Beavers suffer their first loss of the season and drop to 2-1.

Junior Courtney Kaskey (Winnetka, Ill.) led the Beavers with two goals, and classmate Erin Jayne (Merrimac, Mass.), senior Sophia McCann (Duxbury, Mass.) and first-year Amelia Novitch (Dover, Mass.) scored once each in the loss. First-year Clare Connolly (Hanover, Mass.) had an impressive day with seven draw controls, and senior Brooke Leveillee (Longmeadow, Mass.) and sophomore Kayleigh Hacker (Natick, Mass.) picked up three ground balls each.

First-year goalie Kathleen Murphy (Scarborough, Maine) made nine saves along with two ground balls and two caused turnovers, and junior Maeve Williams (Hingham, Mass.) and sophomore Zoë Michaud (Bedford, N.H.) came off the bench to cause two turnovers apiece.

Junior Jane Earley (North Falmouth, Mass.) scored a game-high four goals for the visitors, leading a group of 10 Panthers who scored at least one goal. Seniors Grace Getman (Portsmouth, N.H.) and Lily Riseberg (Newton, Mass.) tallied two goals and one assist each, and classmate Erin Nicholas (Scarsdale, N.Y.) notched two goals. Junior Erica Barr (Medford, N.J.) collected team-highs of five draw controls and four ground balls, and first-year Grace Mumford (Plymouth, N.H.) chalked up three caused turnovers and three ground balls.

McCann scored the first goal of the game for Babson just 24 seconds in on a free position shot, but Middlebury came alive with five goals, including three by Earley, to close out the first quarter with a 5-1 lead. First-year Kelcey Dion (North Andover, Mass.) extended the Panther streak to six goals early in the second frame before Jayne scored for Babson with 6:22 remaining in the half to stop the bleeding. Senior Madeline Riordan (Larchmont, N.Y.) answered for the visitors less than a minute later and Middlebury took a 7-2 lead into the intermission.

After Middlebury scored the first two goals of the third quarter, Babson got a pair of goals from Kaskey and Novitch to cut the deficit to 9-4, but the Panthers held the Beavers off the scoreboard the next 24 minutes while piling up seven unanswered goals. Kaskey closed out the scoring for the Beavers with her second goal with just over a minute remaining.

The Panthers, who won the 2019 Division III national championship, finished with a 32-11 advantage in shots and won the ground ball battle 27-18. Babson was 15-of-23 on clear attempts and Middlebury was 19-of-24.

The Green and White face their third straight nationally-ranked opponent on Wednesday when they host No. 3 Ithaca at MacDowell Field at 1 p.m. Middlebury returns home to host No 19 Trinity next Saturday at 12 p.m.

GAME NOTES
• Babson is 1-4 all-time against Middlebury in a series that dates back to 2009.
• Sunday's game was the first of three games vs. schools from the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC), with encounters against Wesleyan and Williams still to come this season.
• The Beavers were held to their lowest goal total since a 12-3 loss to Amherst in the final game on the 2020 season before the campaign was cancelled due to the pandemic.