BABSON PARK, Mass.— With a Beaver Moon shining brightly over the field, top-seeded and third-ranked Babson College scored a pair of goals two minutes apart in the second quarter and a smothering defense held fourth-seeded Springfield College to just one shot on goal for a 2-0 victory in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) field hockey tournament semifinal Thursday evening at MacDowell Field.

With their 15th consecutive victory, the Beavers improve to 19-1 overall and advance to the NEWMAC title game for the sixth straight year. Springfield had a four-game winning streak snapped and completes its season at 13-7 overall.

Senior Caroline DiGiovanni (Harwich, Mass.) and sophomore Penny Baroni (Dennis, Mass.) were the goal scorers for the Beavers, and junior Grace Mullaney (Boxford, Mass.) collected a pair of assists. First-year Madison Tibbals (Gorham, Maine) finished with one save for her fifth shutout of the season, with help from a back line of senior Sanne van der Goes (Glenview, Ill.), junior Emma Smith (Kenilworth, Ill.), sophomore Lauren Golden (New Albany, Ohio), and first-year Anna Bonazzoli (Clinton, Mass.).

First-year goalkeeper Sam Orcutt (Forestdale, Mass.) did her best in the Springfield goal to keep the Pride in the game and finished with five saves.

The first quarter was low scoring with just three shots and three penalty corners between the two teams. The best opportunity came from Babson when DiGiovanni hit the left post in the seventh minute.

The Beavers upped the pressure on the Pride goal in the second quarter with a series of seven unanswered corners. The Green and White finally broke through in the 26th minute when Baroni took a corner from Mullaney on the left side and fired a shot through traffic that beat Orcutt inside the right post for her 11th goal of the season and a 1-0 lead.

Babson doubled its lead two minutes later when Mullaney stole the ball in the middle third of the field and sent the ball toward the offensive zone, and DiGiovanni redirected the ball at the top of the arc past Orcutt for her conference-leading 24th of the season and a 2-0 lead at the intermission.

Springfield had its best opportunity of the game in the opening minute of the third quarter. The Pride came down the field in a transition and first-year Rachel Simkewicz (Westminster, Mass.) fired the ball from outside the zone on the right side toward the goal where senior Sarah Healy (Niantic, Conn.) pounded a shot on goal from point-blank range but was denied by Tibbals.

The Babson defense tightened up and did not allow Springfield any more shot attempts the rest of the period, keeping the Pride boxed into their own zone. Orcutt made a pair of nice saves on Mullaney and van der Goes early in the frame and another on Baroni late in the period to keep it a two-goal game.

It was a defensive game again in the final stanza as Springfield held Babson to just one corner and one shot by DiGiovanni, which was stopped by Orcutt, but the Pride could not solve the Beaver defense, despite a pair of corners and two shots, one that went wide and another that was blocked.

The Green and White had a 12-5 advantage in total shots and 7-1 in attempts on goal. The hosts also had a 12-4 margin in penalty corners.

Babson will host second-seeded WPI in the NEWMAC title game on Saturday at 12 p.m. at MacDowell Field, with the winner receiving an automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Tournament.

GAME NOTES
• Babson has won the last 18 games against Springfield and owns a 23-18 lead over the Pride in the all-time series that dates back to 1996.
• DiGiovanni has scored at least one goal in her last seven games with three multi-goal games and 13 goals in that span.
• The Beavers have won their last nine NEWMAC Tournament games since being upset by MIT in overtime in the 2019 title game, 3-2.
• The Green and White have won 20 straight home games going back to last season and 51 consecutive games overall vs. NEWMAC opponents since start of the 2021 season.
• Babson will be seeking its fifth straight NEWMAC title and seventh overall in Saturday's final.