CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Senior Meagan Rowlett (Dana Point, Calif.) and junior Ashley English (Sheboygan, Wis.) both scored twice as top-seeded and 14th-ranked MIT defeated second-seeded Babson College, 5-0, in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament final on Saturday afternoon at Roberts Field. 

Babson, which was playing in its first conference final since 2015, slips to 12-6-3 on the year after having its seven-game unbeaten streak halted. Babson, which was second in this week's regional rankings, will have to wait until Monday at 1:30 p.m. to see if they receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. MIT captured its fifth championship in the last six tournaments to earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and improves to 19-3-1 with its fifth straight win. 

Junior goalkeeper Nora Ryan (Abington, Mass.) finished with 10 saves for the Beavers, who were shutout for the first time in eight matches. 

Senior Lexi Spinetta (Austin, Texas) had a goal and juniors Mia Sedgwick (Wilmette, Ill.) and Natalie Barnouw (Los Angeles, Calif.) each provided an assist for the Engineers, who got five saves from senior goalkeeper Morgan Everett (Danville, Pa.). 

Spinetta opened the scoring in the 13th minute when she touched home a pass from Rowlett following a free kick by English for her fourth goal of the season. MIT doubled its advantage just 57 seconds later when Sedgwick carried the ball down the left sideline before slipping a pass across the box for English, who made it 2-0 with a sliding finish that deflected off the right post. 

The Engineers extended their lead to 3-0 in the 18th minute on Rowlett's first marker of the day with a 20-yard rocket over the hand of Ryan and into the upper left corner. 

English made it 4-0 just over eight minutes into the second half when she intercepted a pass at the top of the box and blasted a shot underneath the crossbar from 10 yards for her ninth goal of the year. Rowlett capped the scoring in the 82nd minute when she drilled a loose ball from the penalty spot through traffic following a corner kick for her team-leading 15th goal. 

Senior Natalie Knauf (Point Pleasant, N.J.) had Babson's best scoring chance of the day in the 58th minute when she forced Everett to making a diving save at the left post on her 25-yard free kick. Graduate student Morgan Krauss (Belmont, Mass.) whipped a cross into the box from the right wing just over a minute later that just skipped past the foot of junior Jordyn Ferrantino (Millis, Mass.). 

The Engineers finished with a 23-10 edge in shots and attempted three of the four corner kicks in the match. 

GAME NOTES
•    Babson is 25-14-7 all-time against MIT and Saturday's loss was its first versus the Engineers in seven conference tournament matches. 
•    Saturday's setback snapped the Beavers' five-game road unbeaten streak and was just their third road loss in 21 games going back to the end of the 2021 campaign.