BABSON PARK, Mass.—Junior Claudia Dodge (Pelham, N.Y.) tallied six points on offense and caused five turnovers on defense to lead second-seeded Babson College to a 13-10 victory over third-seeded MIT in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) women's lacrosse semifinal game Wednesday evening at MacDowell Field.

With the victory, Babson posted its eighth win in a row and improves to 13-5 overall while MIT had its nine-game winning streak snapped and ends its season at 12-5. The Beavers advance to Saturday's championship game at top-seeded Springfield after the Pride eliminated fourth-seeded Coast Guard in Wednesday's other semifinal, also by a 13-10 score.

Dodge finished with four goals and two assists and also picked up three ground balls and two draw controls for the Beavers, and junior Courtney Kaskey (Winnetka, Ill.) scored three goals and collected a team-high five draw controls in the win. Junior Erin Jayne (Merrimac, Mass.) and sophomore Genevieve Bushey (Lakeville, Conn.) contributed two goals and two assists each, and senior Brooke Leveillee (Longmeadow, Mass.) scooped up a team-high five ground balls.

Sophomore Meredith Arterburn (Cooksville, Md.) led the Engineers with four goals, junior Lindsey Gambino (Garden City, N.Y.) scored three times and classmate Ellie Rabenold (Cincinnati, Ohio) chipped in with a goal and an assist in the loss. Junior Emma Tauckus (Manhasset, N.Y.) posted four draw controls, three ground balls, and two caused turnovers and senior Christine Padalino (Potomac, Md.) finished with two ground balls and two caused turnovers.

Dodge scored the first two goals of the game to put the Beavers on top before Arterburn put MIT on the board midway through the first quarter, but Kaskey answered for Babson just 16 seconds later. The Engineers went back-to-back as Rabenold scored one and set up another to tie the score at 3-3 but Jayne scored her first of the game to put the Beavers up 4-3 after one quarter.

Babson owned the second quarter, outshooting the visitors 12-3 and outscoring them 5-0. Sophomore Nicole Darveau (Sudbury, Mass.) and Dodge scored early on, and Kaskey, Dodge and Bushey found the back of the next in the final two minutes to put the Beavers up 9-3 at the half.

The Beavers reached their largest lead at 11-4 early in the third quarter after goals by first-year Solana Fahey (North Andover, Mass.) and Kaskey. First-year Sydney Pyon (Garnet Valley, Pa.) and Arterburn scored consecutive goals in a 17-second span to give MIT some life, but Dodge and Bushey answered to put Babson ahead 13-6 late in the third period.

The Engineers did not give up, and a free-position goal by Arterburn 23 seconds later made it 13-7 after three frames, and a goal by Gambino to start the fourth continued the string. MIT made things interesting when Gambino and Arterburn tacked on free-position goals with 6:15 and 4:40 remaining but that ended as the final spurt and Babson ran out the clock for the win.

Babson had a 26-20 advantage in shots, a 15-11 margin in draw controls and a 21-16 advantage in ground balls. The Beavers were good on 22-of-24 clear attempts while holding the Engineers to 17-of-23. Both Babson first-year goalie Kathleen Murphy (Scarborough, Maine) and MIT senior Elena Boal (West Windsor, N.J.) finished with six saves.

GAME NOTES
• Babson is now 36-5 all-time against MIT in a series that dates back to 1988, including a 10-0 mark in the post-season.
• Jayne extended her point-scoring streak to 28 games dating back to the start of her career in February of 2020. Jayne and Dodge have scored at least one goal in 13 straight games this spring,
• Babson has won 25 in a row, including 10 this year, when holding the opponent to 10 goals or fewer, and are 35-1 since the start of 2018.