MIDDLETOWN, R.I. — Junior
Penny Baroni (Dennis, Mass.) tallied three goals and two assists for her second straight eight-point outing as No. 17 Babson College rolled past Salve Regina University, 6-1, in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) field hockey contest Saturday afternoon at Gaudet Field.
With the victory, the Beavers improved to 11-6 overall and 7-1 in the conference, and clinched a first-round bye and home-field advantage in the upcoming NEWMAC Tournament semifinals. Salve Regina dropped its second straight game and fell to 8-8 overall and 2-6 in conference play.
Senior
Helen DiGiovanni (Harwich, Mass.), junior
Lauren Golden (New Albany, Ohio) and sophomore
Brooke Willey (Goshen, Ky.) also scored goals for the Beavers. Seniors
Grace Mullaney (Boxford, Mass.) and
Emma Smith (Kenilworth, Ill.) picked up assists, and sophomore
Madison Tibbals (Gorham, Maine) made two saves in the first half before giving way to first-year
Carly Spinner (Lafayette Hill, Pa.).
Senior Jordyn Pineau (South Dennis, Mass.) scored the lone goal for the Seahawks, and sophomore goalie Siany Ortez (Attleboro, Mass.) matched her career-high with 15 saves.
Baroni, who scored a career-high four goals in a win over Springfield on Tuesday, needed less than four minutes to get on the board on a Babson penalty corner. After the insertion to the top of the arc, Smith shoveled a pass to Baroni on the left side, who ripped a shot past Ortez into the left side of the cage for an early 1-0 lead.
Less than two minutes later, the hosts evened the score on Pineau's fifth of the season. Pineau was sent in on a breakaway on a free hit past the Babson defense and her first attempt was stopped by Tibbals, but Pineau collected the rebound and knocked a reverse shot into the open net to tie the score at 1-1.
The Beavers regained the lead on a penalty corner with 32 seconds left in the opening quarter. The corner was inserted to Baroni at the top of the circle, and she found Golden on the right side, who fired a shot through traffic and into the goal to put Babson up by a goal. Despite outshooting the Seahawks 7-0 in the second quarter, Ortez made three saves and Salve kept Babson off the scoreboard and trailed just 2-1 at halftime.
Baroni potted two more goals in the third seven minutes of the third quarter, both on penalty corners. She scored on a long range shot in the 32nd minute, and finished off her hat trick in the 37th minute with a blast from the same general location as the Babson lead ballooned to 4-1.
DiGiovanni got into the scoring act late in the third quarter, pounding home a rebound from the slot in the 44th minute, and Willey scored her first collegiate goal with four and a half minutes left in the fourth quarter, poking in a loose ball near the right post.
Babson finished with a 28-4 advantage in total shots and 22-3 in shots on target as well as had a 22-3 margin in penalty corners.
The Beavers are right back in action on Sunday, hosting Ithaca in a non-conference game on Senior Day at MacDowell Field, beginning at 1 p.m. Salve Regina hosts a non-conference tilt against Western New England on Wednesday at 6 p.m.
GAME NOTES
• The Beavers have won all 10 meetings between the two schools in a series that dates back to 1998.
• With seven goals and two assists in her last two games, Baroni has taken over the NEWMAC lead with 17 goals and 41 points.
• DiGiovanni has a four-game goal scoring streak with five goals in that span and now ranks second in the NEWMAC with 14 goals and fourth with 29 points.
• The Green and White defense has conceded one or no goals in 13 of their 17 games, going 11-2 in those 13 contests.
