BABSON PARK, Mass.— Junior Grace Mullaney (Boxford, Mass.) scored the go-ahead goal with 21 seconds left in the third quarter and No. 3 Babson College held on to defeat No. 16 Bowdoin College, 2-1, in the NCAA Division III Field Hockey Tournament second round Saturday afternoon at MacDowell Field.

With their 17th consecutive victory, the Beavers advance to the tournament quarterfinals against either No. 7 Wesleyan or No. 12 Hamilton on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Babson Park. Bowdoin completes its season at 10-8.

Senior Caroline DiGiovanni (Harwich, Mass.) scored the opening goal of the game for the Beavers, first-year goalie Madison Tibbals (Gorham, Maine) made five saves in goal, and sophomore Lauren Golden (New Albany, Ohio) made a key defensive save in the fourth quarter for the Green and White to preserve the victory.

Junior Emily Ferguson (Shrewsbury, Mass.) scored for the Polar Bears with an assist from first-year Fei Yang-Sady (Concord, Mass.). Senior Lauren O'Donald (West Springfield, Mass.) made four of her five saves for Bowdoin in the first quarter.

DiGiovanni wasted little time in putting the Beavers on the board with her team-leading 25h goal of the season. She collected a loose ball in the scoring zone with her back to the goal, spun around and fired a long shot through traffic and past O'Donald to give Babson a 1-0 lead just 2:22 into the contest.

The Beavers kept the pressure on Bowdoin, putting four shots on goal in a three-minute span but O'Donald kept the Polar Bears within one. Junior Clara Noyes (Lexington, Mass.) connected on Bowdoin's first shot on goal in the 11th minute and the Polar Bears earned three penalty corner in the final four minutes of the stanza but could not convert.

The defenses were dominant in the second quarter as Bowdoin took all three shots between the two teams in the frame. Tibbals denied Yang-Sady on a pair of shots before the Polar Bears capitalized on a penalty corner. Yang-Sady fired a shot from the right side and Ferguson deflected the ball in front of the goal up and over Tibbals in the 23rd minute for her team-leading 15th goal and leveling the score at 1-1.

Babson was able to overcome two yellow cards and a green card in the third quarter and took the lead after a penalty corner late in the frame. McDonald made a nice save on sophomore Penny Baroni (Dennis, Mass.) after the insertion from Mullaney, by Mullaney retrieved the rebound and snuck a reverse shot inside the left post with just 22 seconds remaining in the third.

After Bowdoin withstood a Babson penalty corner to start the fourth quarter, the Polar Bears had several opportunities of their own. The best chances came from sophomore Hannah Balmelli (Lake Forest, Ill.) who got off three shots in the 56th minute but Tibbals stopped two of them and Golden denied the other to keep the one-goal lead for the Beavers.

Bowdoin finished with a 10-8 advantage in total shots and a 6-3 margin in corners but shots on target were tied at 7-each.

GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are 6-10 all-time against the Polar Bears in a series that dates back to 1985, and 2-0 against Bowdoin this season after a 1-0 victory during the regular season.
• The Green and White has won their first game in the NCAA Tournament each of the last six seasons.
• Babson is 13-0 at home this season and has won 22 in a row at MacDowell Field dating back to last year.
• With Saturday's win, the Green and White are 5-1 this season against schools from the NESCAC, with previous wins over No. 4 Williams, No. 7 Tufts, Trinity and No. 8 Bowdoin and a loss to No. 1 Middlebury.
• The Green and White are 10-0 in one goal games this season.
• DiGiovanni (25-0-50) become the third player in program history to score 25 goals in a season, joining Elise Conley '06 (36 in 2005, 30 in 2004) and Morgan Lockwood '14 (26 in 2010, 25 in 2012).
• DiGiovanni is also tied with Sarah Fredlund '11 for third on the Babson career scoring list with 59 goals.
• Tibbals (20-1) becomes the fourth goalie in program history to record 20 wins in a season, joining Bayl Furmanek '25 (22 in 2023), Cassidy Riley '22 (21 in 2021) and Deirdre Barry '20 (20 in 2016).