Curtis Puts Up Career-High 10 Points, Connolly Records Career-Best 23 Draws to Lead Beavers to Third Straight Win

NORTHAMPTON, Mass.—Graduate student Emily Curtis (Walpole, Mass.) scored a career-high seven goals and added three assists for a career-best 10 points to help visiting Babson College defeat Smith College, 21-12, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) women's lacrosse action on Wednesday night.

Babson, which has won three straight games, closes the regular season at 10-7 overall and 8-1 in conference play, while Smith slips to 8-9 overall and 5-4 in the NEWMAC. The Beavers will be seeded second in the upcoming conference tournament.

Senior Claudia Dodge (Pelham, N.Y.) finished with four goals and three assists to match her career high with seven points and classmate Erin Jayne (Merrimac, Mass.) scored four times and was one of three players along with Curtis and junior Kayleigh Hacker (Natick, Mass.) to force two turnovers for Babson. Sophomore Clare Connolly (Hanover, Mass.) recorded a career-high 23 draw controls, classmate Jessica Evans (Southbury, Conn.) scored twice and led all players with four ground balls and fellow sophomore Kathleen Murphy (Scarborough, Maine) made three saves in the victory.

Junior Gia Arancio (Smithtown, N.Y.) scored four times and first-year Jennie Arancio (Smithtown, N.Y.) and classmate Sadie Tschider (Piedmont, Calif.) both had three goals and one assist to lead Smith. Senior Reese Gittelman (Ocean City, Md.) added a goal and three assists and first-year Brooke Testa (Pittstown, N.J.) and Shannon Houtenville (East Windsor, N.J.) combined for 15 saves in the loss.

Trailing 1-0 less than a minute into the contest, the Green and White scored three times in under 90 seconds took a 4-1 lead on Connolly's tally with 6:11 to go in the opening quarter. Curtis made it 5-2 with a free-position strike and then followed back-to-back goals by Jayne with her second of the game to give the Beavers an 8-3 lead just over two minutes into the second.

First-year Caroline Sanders (Trabuco, Calif.) converted a free-position chance to spark a three-goal run that helped Smith pull within 8-6 on Tschider's tally with 4:34 to go until halftime, but Curtis stopped the run with her third marker less than a minute later and Jayne followed with consecutive goals just 28 seconds apart as Babson extended the margin back to 11-6 with 2:00 to go in the second period. Jennie Arancio cut the Pioneers' deficit to four at the break but they were unable to get any closer as the Beavers got goals from four different players over the first six minutes of the third to stretch their lead to 15-8.

Curtis scored again late in the third and followed back-to-back free-position tallies by Dodge with two more goals to make it 20-11 with 7:52 left in the fourth. Junior Nicole Darveau (Sudbury, Mass.) gave the Green and White its largest lead of the game at 21-11 with 3:49 remaining.

The Beavers, who won 29 of 34 draws, held a 41-15 edge in shots and converted 6-of-7 free-position chances in the win.

Babson will host either third-seeded Springfield or sixth-seeded Wheaton in a NEWMAC Tournament semifinal next Wednesday, while Smith will travel to Coast Guard for a quarterfinal matchup on Saturday.

GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are 26-13 all-time against Smith and have won 21 consecutive games in the series since 2001.
• Curtis is one of just seven players to score 60 or more goals and ranks sixth in Babson single-season history with 83 points (60g, 23a).
• Connolly's 23 draw controls are the third highest single-game total in Division III this season and she joins Clara Jelacic of Carroll (Wis.) as the only two players to record 20 or more draws in a game twice this spring.
• The Beavers outscored their nine NEWMAC opponents 176-55 during the regular season.