BABSON PARK, Mass.— Sophomore Caroline DiGiovanni (Harwich, Mass.) scored a pair of goals to help No. 3 Babson College remain undefeated with a 3-2 victory over No. 15 Bates College in non-conference field hockey action Wednesday afternoon at rainy MacDowell Field.

With the win, the Beavers improve to 5-0 on the season while Bates suffered its first loss of the campaign and drops to 3-1.

DiGiovanni recorded her first two goals of the season for the Beavers while graduate student Sinead Walsh (Port Elizabeth, South Africa) tallied a goal and an assist in the win and junior Camille Marsh (Englewood, Colo.) added an assist. Junior Bayla Furmanek (State College, Pa.) turned away five shots in goal to post the victory.

Senior Kami Lambert (Augusta, Maine) and junior Anna Lindeis (New Canaan, Conn.) tallied goals for the Bobcats, and junior Anna Cote (Auburn, Maine) and senior Molly Harmon (Farmington, Maine) collected assists in the setback. Sophomore Kaili Jacobsen (Fairfield, Conn.) made five saves in the Bobcat goal but suffered the loss.

Babson burst out of the game and scored the first goal in the first minute of play. Walsh's shot from the right side was deflected and bounced pas the goalie when DiGiovanni finished off the goal for her first of the season just 37 seconds after the opening whistle. The Beavers kept the ball in the Bates end of the field much of the first quarter and outshot the visitors 5-0 but had to settle for a 1-0 lead after one.

The Bobcats came alive in the second quarter and got on the board in the 20th minute. Cote sent the ball into the offensive zone from the right side about five yards outside the circle and Lambert pounded a one-timer past Furmanek into the left side of the goal to tie the score at 1-1.

The Green and White regained the lead midway through the second quarter when Jacobsen kicked the ball out of harm's way but it went right on to the stick of Walsh, and she fired a shot into the back of the net to give Babson a 2-1 lead.

Bates had a 6-2 advantage in shots in the second quarter but couldn't notch the equalizer and the teams looked like they would reach halftime with the score at 2-1, but Babson had other ideas. Marsh intercepted a pass in the Bates end of the field, carried the ball up towards the goal field just inside the 25-yard line and passed ahead to DiGiovanni inside the circle on the left side. DiGiovanni fired a backhander that went under Jacobsen with just 19 seconds on the clock to give Babson a 3-1 lead at the break.

The Bobcats pulled back to within a goal in the fifth minute of the second half when Harmon sent a pass from the 25-yard line to Lindeis just inside the circle on the left side. Lindeis ripped a backhander that went through traffic and a screened goaltender into the back of the net to make it a one-goal game again.

Babson had the only three shots over the final 10 minutes of the third quarter but Jacobsen stopped two of them and the other went wide. Babson graduate student Jackie Hill (Franklin, N.H.) had the best opportunity for either team in the fourth quarter but she was stopped at point blank range by Jacobsen in the 52nd minute. That ended up being the last shot of the game.

The Beavers finished with a 14-7 margin in shots (8-7 in shots on goal) and each team took seven penalty corners.

Babson opens conference play on Saturday at 12 p.m. against Clark at MacDowell Field. Bates continues its string of nationally ranked opponents Saturday at home against No. 7 Williams at 11 a.m.

GAME NOTES
• Babson won its fourth straight game against Bates to even up the all-time series that dates back to 2022 at 12 wins apiece.
• DiGiovanni recorded her third career two-goal game.
• The Beavers are 3-0 this season against teams from the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) with two more to come.
• The Green and White have won 38 straight games since the start of the 2021 campaign when scoring the first goal of the game.