CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Juniors Amelia Novitch (Dover, Mass.) and Michaela Downer (North Andover, Mass.) both scored three goals and classmate Clare Connolly (Hanover, Mass.) led all players with 10 draw controls to help 20th-ranked Babson College defeat No. 15 MIT, 10-7, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) women's lacrosse action on Wednesday night at Jack Barry Field. 

Babson, which has won 10 straight games for the first time since 2012, improves to 11-1 overall and 7-0 in conference play. MIT, which had its nine-game winning streak snapped, is now 11-2 overall and 5-1 in the NEWMAC. 

Junior Jessica Evans (Southbury, Conn.) had two goals and graduate student Lily Ives (Chappaqua, N.Y.) and senior Nicole Darveau (Sudbury, Mass.) both scored once for the Beavers. Graduate student Anna Costello (Milton, Mass.) and senior Kayleigh Hacker (Natick, Mass.) both recorded three caused turnovers and two ground balls, while junior goalkeeper Kathleen Murphy (Scarborough, Maine) made seven saves in the victory. 

Sophomore Ashley Thomas (Summit, N.J.) scored three times, junior Sydney Pyon (Garnet Valley, Pa.) had two goals and senior Faith Bulan (New Providence, N.J.) tied for game-high honors with three forced turnovers and two ground balls to lead the Engineers. Senior Ellie Rabenold (Cincinnati, Ohio), who was held without a goal or a point for the first time in 42 games going back to 2022, won a team-high four draws, while sophomore Molly Dulde (Delafield, Wis.) made 10 saves in the loss. 

Novitch and Evans put away early free-position chances and Downer scored her first goal of the night to give the Green and White a 3-0 lead with 7:52 to go in the opening quarter. MIT pulled even with three free-position tallies over the final 1:44 of the stanza and the teams traded goals over the first 90 seconds of the second period before Downer put the Beavers ahead for good at the 12:55 mark. 

Evans notched her second goal of the contest with 3:39 to go before halftime and Murphy made a pair of late saves to keep Babson in front 6-4 at the break. A free-position tally by Pyon pulled the Engineers within one just over three minutes into the third quarter but Darveau answered with a free-position strike less than two minutes later. Costello and Hacker forced turnovers on MIT's next two possessions and Novitch scored her third goal with 5:14 left in the frame. 

Downer scored four minutes into the fourth and Ives converted a feed from Novitch to give the Beavers their largest lead of the night at 10-5 with 6:00 remaining. Thomas scored twice to get the Engineers within three with 1:44 left but senior Genevieve Bushey (Lakeville, Conn.) won the ensuing draw control allowing Babson to run out the clock. 

The Beavers finished with a 32-18 edge in shots, won 14 of 21 draw controls and held a 16-11 edge in ground balls. 

Babson returns to action on Sunday when it travels to No. 16 Amherst at 1 p.m., while MIT visits Salve Regina on Saturday at 11 a.m. 

GAME NOTES
•    The Beavers are 38-6 all-time against MIT and have won eight of the last 10 games in the series since 2016. 
•    Babson is now 3-1 on the year against nationally-ranked foes, which includes wins over then-No. 17 Chicago on March 10 and then-13th-ranked Trinity on March 24.
•    The Green and White is 11-0 this season and 57-2 going back to 2018 when allowing 10 goals or fewer. 
•    The Beavers are now 7-0 this season when scoring at least four free-position goals and 8-0 when finishing with eight or more caused turnovers.