BABSON PARK, Mass.—Sophomore Jessica Evans (Southbury, Conn.) scored a career-high seven goals and second-seeded Babson College opened the second half with a 9-1 run to pull away for a 15-9 win over third-seeded Springfield College in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament semifinal on Wednesday evening at MacDowell Field.

Winners of four straight games, Babson improves to 11-7 and advanced to its seventh consecutive conference tournament final. Springfield sees its season come to a close at 11-8.

Evans, who converted 4-of-6 free-position chances, added season highs of four ground balls and three caused turnovers for the Beavers. Graduate student Emily Curtis (Walpole, Mass.) and sophomore Kathryn Blake (Medfield, Mass.) both scored twice, senior Erin Jayne (Merrimac, Mass.) added a goal and two assists and sophomore Clare Connolly (Hanover, Mass.) led all players with 11 draw controls. Junior Eileen Manning (Needham, Mass.) forced four turnovers, while sophomore Kathleen Murphy (Scarborough, Maine) turned away 10 shots in the win.

Graduate student Jade O'Connor (Baltimore, Md.) and first-year Sarah Newton (Colchester, Conn.) both scored three times, senior Gianna Scialdone (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) won 10 draws and junior Kyana Alvarado (Westfield, Mass.) forced a team-high four caused turnovers for the Pride. Junior Haley Moody (Wells, Maine) made eight saves in the loss.

Evans registered four goals in the opening quarter to help the Green and White build a 4-2 lead a little over 11 minutes into the game. Junior Maddie Roy (Wilbraham, Mass.) scored and then set up O'Connor's second tally 64 seconds later to make it 4-4 with 1:51 to go in the first, and Springfield took its first lead on a free-position strike by sophomore Isabella Mazzi (Niantic, Conn.) with 10:22 to go in the second.

Newton followed up a free-position tally by Beavers' senior Claudia Dodge (Pelham, N.H.) with back-to-back goals to give the Pride a 7-5 lead at the half. Connolly capped a three-goal spurt that gave Babson an 8-7 advantage with 4:11 left in the third but Newton struck back 53 seconds later completing her hat trick to forge the fifth tie of the game.

The Green and White took over from there as Jayne forced a turnover and then buried a free-position chance with 2:04 left in the stanza and Curtis got the board following another turnover 56 seconds later to spark a six-goal run. Evans notched Babson's third man-up goal of the contest 12 seconds into the fourth and then followed up Blake's tally with another free-position strike to make it 13-8 with 5:37 remaining.

The Beavers were a perfect 16-of-16 on clears and outshot the Pride 33-25. Both teams finished with 18 ground balls and 14 draw controls.

Babson will face top-seeded MIT in the NEWMAC Tournament final on Saturday at 1 p.m.

GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are 22-21 all-time against Springfield and are now 9-7 against the Pride in the postseason.
• The teams were playing for the seventh consecutive conference tournament and had met in each of the last six championship games from 2016-22 prior to Wednesday.
• Babson scored seven free-position goals, which is one shy of its season high, and is now 17-2 over the last two years when notching at least four free-position markers.
• The Beavers are now 9-0 this season and have won 34 of their last 35 games when holding their opponents below 10 goals.