SOUTH HADLEY, Mass.— Sophomore
Penny Baroni (Dennis, Mass.) and junior
Ashley Braren (Westwood, Mass.) scored goals in the middle two quarters to lead No. 6 Babson College to a 2-1 victory over Mount Holyoke College in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) field hockey game Saturday afternoon at the MHC Turf.
With the victory, the Beavers extended their winning streak to three games and improve to 7-1 overall and 2-0 in the NEWMAC. The Lyons lost their second in a row and drop to 4-5 overall and 0-2 in the conference.
Sophomore
Taylor Shoflick (Greenwood Village, Colo.) collected an assist on the game-winning goal, and first-year
Madison Tibbals (Gorham, Maine) made one save in goal for the Beavers, who outshot the hosts 21-2, including 9-2 in shots on target.
Mount Holyoke got a goal from sophomore MJ Owens (Fairfield, Conn) and seven saves from senior Ainsley Gruener (Topsfield, Mass.) in the setback.
Babson had a 9-1 advantage in shots in the opening quarter but Gruener made three saves in goal to keep the game scoreless. The Beavers nearly broke through in the 24th minute but a shot by senior
Caroline DiGiovanni (Harwich, Mass.) hit the post. Less than a minute later, a shot by first-year
Anna Bonazzoli (Clinton, Mass.) on a penalty corner hit the post and Baroni pounded the rebound past Gruener for her sixth goal of the season.
The Beaver lead was still just 1-0 midway through the third quarter when Babson struck again. Shoflick intercepted a Mount Holyoke clear in the middle of the scoring zone and fired a shot that was deflected near the right post by Braren into the goal for her first goal of the season with 6:52 remaining in the third.
The Lyons sliced the deficit to one goal with 4:11 to play in the fourth quarter when Owens got past the Babson defense and went in alone on the Beaver goal. Tibbals denied Owens on her first attempt but Owens flipped the ball over a fallen Tibbals and into the goal for her fifth of the season.
The Green and White tightened up the defense the rest of the way and did not allowed the Lyons a chance at a tying goal in the last four minutes.
Babson is back in action against Trinity on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Hartford, Conn. Mount Holyoke is home again next Saturday against Wheaton at 1 p.m.
GAME NOTES
• Babson has won 10 in a row over Mount Holyoke and owns a 27-15-3 lead all-time against the Lyons in a series that dates back to 1988.
• The Beavers have captured 70 consecutive NEWMAC regular season games over the last 10 years since a 1-0 loss at Mount Holyoke on October 17, 2015.
• Baroni has scored in three straight games and shares the team goal scoring lead of seven with DiGiovanni.
• The Green and White are 5-0 in one goal games this season and have won 12 of the last 16 since 2023 in games decided by one goal.
