BABSON PARK, Mass.—Senior
Helen DiGiovanni (Harwich, Mass.), junior
Penny Baroni (Dennis, Mass.) and
Julia Krepelka (Walpole, Mass.) finished with two goals apiece to help No. 9 Babson College defeat visiting Smith College, 8-1, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) field hockey action on Saturday afternoon at MacDowell Field.
Babson, which had its 80-game NEWMAC regular season winning streak snapped on Tuesday at MIT, improves to 8-4 overall and 4-1 in league play. Smith falls to 7-6 overall and 4-1 in the conference with the loss.
Senior
Ashley Braren (Westwood, Mass.) and first-year
Kate Schneider (Walpole, Mass.) each scored once and senior
Grace Mullaney (Boxford, Mass.) provided two assists for the Beavers. Schneider, senior
Emma Smith (Kenilworth, Ill.) and junior
Lauren Golden (New Albany, Ohio) also recorded an assist, while the duo of sophomore
Maddison Tibbals (Gorham, Maine) and first-year
Carly Spinner (Lafayette Hill, Pa.) combined to make three saves in the win.
Junior Sam Sparling (Croton on Hudson, N.Y.) scored a fourth-quarter goal and sophomore goalkeeper Iseul Park (Ann Arbor, Mich.) finished with 11 saves for the Bears.
DiGiovanni opened the scoring just 1:38 into the contest when she tucked a feed from Schneider inside the left post for a 1-0 lead. She redirected a hard pass from Baroni past Park for her eighth goal of the season to double the margin at the 12:04 mark of the opening stanza, and the Beavers scored twice in the span of 65 seconds midway through the second to bust the game open.
Krepelka got a touch on a blast by Golden toward the goal following a penalty corner to make it 3-0 with 6:58 left in the period, and Schneider redirected a shot by Smith following another corner just over a minute later as Babson took a 4-0 lead into halftime.
Park made five saves in the third to keep Smith within striking distance before the Beavers erupted for four goals in the fourth quarter. Baroni weaved through the defense to score the first of her two goals just 66 seconds into the stanza, Braren tipped in a centering pass by Mullaney at the 48:17 mark extending the cushion to 6-0 and Krepelka jammed home the rebound of a shot by Mullaney at the left post with 9:12 left to make it 7-0.
Baroni followed with a rocket from the left side of the circle after a penalty corner to give the hosts their largest lead with 8:07 to play before Sparling broke up the shutout bid with 3:11 remaining.
The Beavers finished with a 23-5 edge in shots and attempted 11 of the 13 penalty corners in the match.
Babson returns to action on Tuesday when it travels to No. 10 Bowdoin at 2 p.m., while Smith hosts No. 14 Amherst on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.
GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are 28-19-1 all-time against Smith in a series that dates back to 1987 and have won 12 consecutive games in the series.
• Babson has outscored its 12 opponents this season 9-0 in the first quarter and 16-2 in the first half.
• The Green and White has won 152 straight games when scoring at least three goals going back to October 2014.
• The Beavers are 6-0 this season and 68-1 since 2021 when leading after the first quarter.
