BABSON PARK, Mass.— Senior Laney Reed (West Chester, Pa.) scored the only goal of the game in the 22nd minute and top-seeded and third-ranked Babson College withstood a fourth-quarter surge by second-seeded and 24th-ranked WPI as the Beavers edged the Engineers, 1-0, for their fifth consecutive New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) field hockey tournament championship Saturday afternoon at MacDowell Field.

With their 16th consecutive victory, the Beavers improve to a sparkling 20-1 overall and earn the program's seventh NEWMAC title overall and a trip to the NCAA Tournament for the sixth year in a row. WPI had a five-game winning streak snapped and dropped to 14-5 overall but remain in contention for the NCAA Tournament at-large berth.

Junior Helen DiGiovanni (Harwich, Mass.) assisted on the game-winner, sophomore Lauren Golden (New Albany, Ohio) had a key defensive save in the fourth quarter, and first-year Madison Tibbals (Gorham, Maine) made a pair of saves in goal in the victory. Senior Caroline DiGiovanni (Harwich, Mass.) was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

Sophomore Myles Lakin (Reading, Mass.) was outstanding in the WPI goal and finished with seven saves in the setback.

Babson controlled play for most of the first quarter, earning all four of the penalty corners in the stanza and outshooting the visitors 8-2. Lakin made six saves in the opening frame to keep the game scoreless and Tibbals made one of her own at the other end.

After a busy opening frame, the teams combined for just one shot in the second quarter and Babson made it count. As WPI was attempting to clear the ball out of its own zone, Helen DiGiovanni poked the ball off the stick of an Engineer defender. Reed scooped up the loose ball, stepped around a charging Lakin and fired the ball into the empty net for her fifth goal of the season and a 1-0 lead with 8:19 left in the second.

The Beavers kept the visitors without any shot in the second and third quarters and held the Engineers deep in their own zone most of the time. Babson had two penalty corners in the second quarter after going ahead, and had four more corners in the third, but Lakin stopped the only shot on goal and the teams went into the fourth quarter with the score still 1-0.

After a quiet seven minutes, WPI was sparked by its first of four penalty corners in the 53rd minute. Tibbals made a save on senior Abbey Powers (Halifax, Mass.) on a corner in the 54th minute, and Golden's defensive save on Powers after another corner was a game-saver. Graduate student Lauren Meinhold (Boxboro, Mass.) had two more attempts on corner plays but both were blocked by Babson defenders.

The Green and White had a 12-2 advantage in shots through three quarters before WPI took all six shots in the final stanza. The hosts also produced the first 10 penalty corner before WPI recorded four in the fourth quarter.

Both teams will learn their NCAA post-season fate when the tournament field is announced at 9 p.m. on Sunday on ncaa.com.

GAME NOTES
• The Beavers have won 15 in a row over the Engineers and own a 30-15 advantage over WPI in the all-time series that dates back to 1985.
• The Green and White have won 21 straight home games going back to last season and 52 consecutive games overall vs. NEWMAC opponents since start of the 2021 season.
• Babson was playing in its sixth straight championship game and ninth overall while WPI was playing in the title game for the first time since the NEWMAC was formed in 1998.
• Caroline DiGiovanni has scored at least one goal in 15 of Babson's 20 games but had her seven-game goal scoring streak snapped by WPI.