MIDDLETOWN, Conn.—Senior Amelia Novitch (Dover, Mass.) produced seven goals and six assists to match the program's NCAA Tournament record with 13 points as No. 16 Babson College cruised to a 21-9 victory over Worcester State University in the first round on Saturday afternoon at Smith Field. 

With the win, Babson improves to 15-3 and advances to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season. Worcester State, which was making its first NCAA appearances, ends the year at 13-7. 

Senior Clare Connolly (Hanover, Mass.) matched her career high with 24 draw controls to go along with six goals and one assist, classmate Kathryn Blake (Medfield, Mass.) contributed four goals and three assists, and fellow senior Jessica Evans (Southbury, Conn.) finished with two goals, one assist, four ground balls and two caused turnovers to pace the Beavers. Graduate student Eileen Manning (Needham, Mass.) chipped in with two caused turnovers and senior Kathleen Murphy (Scarborough, Maine) made two saves to go along with three ground balls and three forced turnovers. 

Junior Molly Witkowski (Greenville, N.Y.) scored four times and had a team-high five points, while classmate Abigail Vincent (Lakeville,, Mass.) had a goal and two assists to lead the Lancers. Senior Ava Gesner (Norton, Mass.) tied for game-high honors with three caused turnovers and classmate Olivia LaValle (Peabody, Mass.) made 14 saves in the loss. 

Witkowski opened the scoring 49 seconds into the contest but Connolly, Blake and Novitch each scored twice, and Evans capped a seven-goal run that gave the Green and White a six-goal edge with 5:20 to go in the first quarter. Worcester State closed the gap to 8-3 late in the stanza but senior Michaela Downer (North Andover, Mass.), Novitch and Connolly answered with tallies to make it 11-3 less than five minutes into the second. 

Senior Abbie Wing (Griswold, Conn.) cut the Lancers' deficit to 12-6 with 12:52 to go in the third period only to see the Beavers put the game away with nine straight goals. Novitch scored twice in the span of four minutes to make it 15-6, Evans added her second marker, and Novitch followed two straight goals by Blake with her seventh of the day for a 19-6 lead with 1:07 left in frame. 

Senior Solana Fahey (North Andover, Mass.) and Connolly both scored early in the fourth to give Babson its largest lead of the afternoon at 21-7 with 8:52 remaining. 

The Beavers finished with a 51-15 edge in shots, a 24-15 advantage in ground balls and were success on 15-of-16 clears. Worcester State was just 10-of-16 on its clear chances in the first half and won only five of 33 draw controls on the day. 

Babson will now face No. 6 Wesleyan in a second round contest on Sunday at 1 p.m. 

GAME NOTES
•    Saturday's contest was the first all-time for the Beavers against Worcester State. 
•    Novitch's 13 points matched the NCAA team record set by Emily Curtis M'23, who had eight goals and five assists in Babson's first round win over Westfield State in 2023. 
•    The Beavers are now 7-2 all-time in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. 
•    With her 13-point day, Novitch is now tied with Erin Jayne '23 for fourth in program history in assists (77) and 12th in points (195).