BABSON PARK, Mass.—Seniors Clare Connolly (Hanover, Mass.), Kathryn Blake (Medfield, Mass.) and Jessica Evans (Southbury, Conn.) registered five points apiece and Connolly and Evans combined for 16 draw controls as No. 14/13 and top-seeded Babson College got past the fourth-seeded U.S. Coast Guard Academy, 16-14, in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) women's lacrosse tournament semifinal on Wednesday evening at MacDowell Field.

Babson, ranked 14th by the IWLCA and 13th by USA Lacrosse Magazine, posted its 11th consecutive victory and improved to 14-2 overall while Coast Guard saw its second come to an end with a 10-6 overall record. The Beavers earned a trip to the NEWMAC title game for the ninth year in a row.

Connolly finished with game-highs of five goals and 10 draw controls, Blake contributed four goals and an assist, and Evans recorded three goals, two assists, six draw controls and a team-high three ground balls in the victory. Classmates Amelia Novitch (Dover, Mass.) and Solana Fahey (North Andover, Mass.) chipped in with two goals and one assist each, and senior Kathleen Murphy (Scarborough, Maine) made eight saves in goal to secure the win.

Seniors Laine Weber (Granite Bay, Calif.) and Caitlyn Coates (Hanover, Pa.) led the Bears with four goals apiece, and junior Abby McAllister (Pleasantville, N.Y.) contributed two goals and two assists. Junior Aislinn Murray (Annapolis, Md.) added a pair of goals, first-year Ella Campbell (Foxborough, Mass.) collected seven draw controls, junior Rowan Walsh (Hampstead, Md.) scooped up four ground balls, and senior Maici Mintchwarner (Cream Ridge, N.J.) made eight saves in goal in the setback.

Coast Guard, which trailed 10-0 after the first quarter in Babson's 18-3 regular season victory over the Bears, scored the first two goals to take an early lead. Coates fired in her first goal on an assist from McAllister and Weber followed to give the Bears a 2-0 lead just 2:12 after the opening whistle.

After Blake and Weber traded goals a minute apart, Babson came alive with four consecutive goals, one each by Blake and Novitch and a pair from Connolly, to pull ahead 5-3 with five minutes to go in the opening frame. Coast Guard did not back down and answered with four goals of its own, one each by Coates, first-year Rileigh Leary (Holden, Mass.), Weber and Murray, to regain the lead, 7-5, with 6:15 to go in the second.

The Beavers responded with a three-goal surge to end the half, one by Evans and two in the final minute by Fahey and Connolly to put the hosts up 8-7 at the intermission. The Green and White tallied five of the first six goals of the third quarter to open up a five-goal advantage, 13-8, with five minutes on the clock. Fahey and Blake notched the first two and Novitch, Evans and Blake added three more in the rally. Coates stopped the bleeding for CGA as Babson took a 13-9 lead into the fourth quarter.

Connolly potted the only goal in the first eight minutes of the final stanza before McAllister countered for Coast Guard. Connolly scored again, her fifth of the night with 5:28 remaining, as the Beavers regained their five-goal margin, 15-10. The Bears would not go away, outscoring Babson 4-1 over the final five minutes, with goals by Coates, McAllister, Murray and Weber, who tallied the final one with 34 seconds remaining, but the clock ran out on the Bears' comeback attempt.

The Beavers finished with a 37-28 advantage in shots and a narrow 17-16 margin in draw controls. Coast Guard won the ground ball battle, 18-16. Babson was 5-of-9 on free-position shots while the Bears were just 1-of-7.

Babson will host second-seeded MIT on Saturday in the NEWMAC title game for the third year in a row, with the game time TBA.

GAME NOTES
• Babson is 13-0 all-time against Coast Guard in a series that dates back to 2015, including 7-0 at MacDowell Field and a 7-3 victory over the Bears in last year's NEWMAC semifinals.
• The Bears equaled their highest goal output against Babson accomplished in 2018, and the outcome was the smallest margin of victory in the series.
• The Beavers have never lost in the NEWMAC semifinals, going 17-0 in the semifinal round in tournament history.
• Evans scored her 100th career goal and now has 102, joining teammates Novitch (111), Blake (111) and Connolly (107) who all reached the century mark this season.