BABSON PARK, Mass.— Senior Caroline DiGiovanni (Harwich, Mass.) scored on a breakaway eight minutes and 40 seconds into overtime to lift No. 6 Babson College to a 2-1 victory over No. 7 Tufts University in a battle of top-10 field hockey teams Wednesday evening at MacDowell Field.

With their third win against a ranked opponent this season, the Beavers improve to 4-1 overall while Tufts had a two-game winning streak snapped and dropped to 3-2.

Sophomore Penny Baroni (Dennis, Mass.) also scored for the Green and White and junior Grace Mullaney (Boxford, Mass.) recorded an assist on the game-winner. First-year Madison Tibbals (Gorham, Maine) was outstanding in goal and finished with seven saves, including three in overtime.

Junior Claire Casey (Charlotte, N.C.) scored the lone goal for the visitors, and senior Lydia Eastburn (New Hope, Pa.) finished with three saves, including one in the extra session.

Tufts outshot Babson 4-1 in the first eight minutes of overtime, including one off the post, before Mullaney sent DiGiovanni on a breakaway with a nice through ball past the Jumbo defense, and DiGiovanni buried a shot past a charging Eastburn for the game-winner and her sixth of the season.

After a defense-minded first quarter that included just one shot for each team and one penalty corner for the Jumbos, Tufts drew first blood in the 23rd minute on a penalty stroke. The Beavers were called for an intentional foul in the circle, and Casey ripped the stroke past Tibbals to the upper right side to break the deadlock.
The Jumbos finished with a 4-1 shot advantage in the second quarter but Tibbals made three saves and Tufts took a 1-0 lead into the break.

Despite drawing a green card five minutes into the third quarter, Babson was able to control play and leveled the score with a penalty stroke of its own in the 36th minute. Baroni took the stroke and snapped a shot past Eastburn into the upper left corner for her fifth goal of the season and third penalty stroke goal on three attempts this season.

Tufts upped the pressure on the Beavers the remainder of the quarter with seven unanswered penalty corners but were able to register just one shot, which was blocked. It was more of the same in the fourth quarter as the Jumbos had five more corners but couldn't put any on target. Eastburn stopped the only shot she saw before Babson received its first corner of the game in the 57th minute, and a shot by junior Emma Smith (Kenilworth, Ill.) went wide, setting up the overtime.

The Jumbos finished with a 14-7 advantage in total shots with a 8-5 margin in shots on goal. The visitors had a commanding 16-1 margin in penalty corners.

The Green and White open New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play on Saturday at crosstown rival Wellesley at 12 p.m. Tufts returns home to host No. 18 Hamilton Saturday at 11 a.m.

GAME NOTES
• Babson has won five of the last six games against Tufts and is 9-23 all-time against the Jumbos in a series that dates back to 1994.
• DiGiovanni has scored at least one goal in five of six Babson games this season and now has 40 goals in her career, which ranks 12th in program history.
• The 16 penalty corners for Tufts is the most against Babson since Williams recorded 16 in a 3-2 victory over the Beavers back on September 10, 2022.
• Babson has captured 12 straight home games dating back to last season and is 28-1 at MacDowell Field since the beginning of the 2023 season.
• The Green and White are 4-0 in one goal games this season and have won 11 of the last 15 games since 2023 in games decided by one goal.