HARTFORD, Conn.— Junior Sophia Albano (Pittsford, N.Y.) scored the game-wining goal with 3:57 remaining in the second overtime as No. 2 Johns Hopkins University outlasted No. 3 Babson College, 2-1, in an NCAA Division III Field Hockey Tournament semifinal Friday afternoon at Trinity College's Robin Sheppard Field.
With their 18-game winning streak snapped, the Beavers wind up the season with a sparkling 22-2 record while the Blue Jays improve to 22-1 and earn a spot against No. 6 Tufts in the NCAA Tournament Final at 12 p.m. on Sunday.
Junior
Grace Mullaney (Boxford, Mass.) scored the lone goal for the Green and White, and first-year
Madison Tibbals (Gorham, Maine) made 10 saves in goal for the Beavers for her second double-digit save performance of the season.
Senior Zoey Bennett (New Canaan, Conn.) also scored for the Blue Jays, and junior goalie Aubrey Kilgore (Schwenksville, Pa.) finished with six saves in 61 minutes between the pipes in the victory.
Each team scored one goal in the first quarter in a defensive-minded contest. Hopkins drew first blood just 1:54 after the opening whistle as Tibbals made a nice save on a shot by graduate student Jenna Halpin (Locust Valley, N.Y.) but Bennett knocked the rebound between Tibbals' pads for an early lead.
The Beavers bounced back and outshot the Blue Jays 7-2 in the opening frame, including a strong shot by senior
Caroline DiGiovanni (Harwich, Mass.) with three minutes on the clock that was kicked out by Kilgore, and an attempt by sophomore
Penny Baroni (Dennis, Mass.) that went wide with less than two minutes to go.
The offensive pressure by Babson paid off with a goal off a penalty corner with just 21 seconds to go in the period. Mullaney inserted the corner that led to a pair of shots on goal by DiGiovanni and Baroni, which were denied by Kilgore, but Mullaney flipped the rebound over Kilgore just under the cross bar to even the score at 1-1 at the end of one.
Much of the play in the middle two quarters was played between the two 25-yard lines. Johns Hopkins managed the only shot in the second period but senior Grace Waldeck's (Concord, Mass.) attempt went wide. The Blue Jays had a 2-on-1 in the fourth quarter but Tibbals stood her ground and the Blue Jays couldn't capitalize. DiGiovanni and Mullaney had back-to-back shots that were stopped by Kilgore.
Hopkins, which used as many as 10 substitutes off the bench, benefitted from its depth in the overtime. With the teams playing 7-on-7, Tibbals was forced to make three straight saves in the first extra session and also defend a penalty corner. Babson was whistled for a 10-minute yellow card with less than three minutes left in the first OT, leaving the Beavers short-handed heading into the second overtime.
The Blue Jays were awarded another corner in the second overtime, but Tibbals came through big with three more saves to keep the score tied. DiGiovanni had a scoring opportunity of her own with four and a half minutes on the clock.
Despite a valiant effort by the Beavers, Albano broke in alone on Tibbals on the right side and lifted a shot inside the left post for the game-winner.
GAME NOTES
• Johns Hopkins leads Babson 2-1 in the all-time series between the two programs dating back to 2011, and is 2-0 against the Beavers in NCAA Tournament games.
• The Green and White suffered their first loss in 12 one-goal games this season.
• Babson was making its third trip to the NCAA national semifinals following the teams in 2016 and 2023.
• The Babson seniors finish with a remarkable record of 82-12 (.872), a mark that surpasses the program standard of 81-12 (.879) set by last year's seniors and the 72-17 (.809) achieved by the seniors of 2019.
