WELLESLEY, Mass.— Sophomore Olivia Lore (Blue Bell, Pa.) tied a career-high with 11 saves and recorded her seventh clean sheet of the season as Wellesley College blanked crosstown rival Babson College, 2-0, in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) women's soccer match on Wednesday afternoon at the Wellesley Soccer Field.
With the setback, Babson is winless in its last four games (0-3-1) and falls to 6-8-4 overall and 3-3-4 in the NEWMAC. Wellesley has a win and three ties in its last four outings and improves to 6-6-5 overall and 3-3-4 in conference play.
The Beavers outshot the hosts 21-8, including 11-6 in shots on target, but couldn't get one past Lore. Junior
Lillian McAughan (Bellevue, Wash.) produced a team-high six shots, three on goal, sophomore
Lindsey Cassady (Westfield, Ind.) put two of her four shots on goal, and junior
Mack Feeney (North Attleboro, Mass.) had three shots, two on target. Senior
Callahan Cottone (Medway, Mass.) made four saves in goal in the setback.
Seniors Mae Nephew (Duluth, Minn.) and Olivia Chow-Gillette (Dallas, Texas) provided the goals for the Blue, one in each half as Wellesley defeated Babson for the first time since 2016.
Wellesley made the most of a penalty kick opportunity in the 14th minute when a player was fouled inside the box, leading to the stoppage. Nephew went low left on the penalty shot as the goalie could only watch the ball cross the line into the net for a 1-0 lead.
The Beavers outshot the hosts 7-3 in the first 45 minutes to no avail. Cassady had a free kick from distance in the 34th minute go just over the cross bar, and an attempt by junior
Josie Lee (Duxbury, Mass.) in the 42nd minute went wide left.
Babson continued to pepper the Wellesley goal in the second half but Lore stopped nine of the 14 shots. A shot from the right side by McAughan went just wide of the far post in the 53rd minute, and Lore made a diving punchout on McAughan two minutes later.
The Green and White had a golden chance to score an equalizer in the 56th minute but Cassady's low liner on a penalty kick was denied by Lore. Cassady had another strong shot in the 65th minute turned away by Lore.
Cottone kept it a one-goal game, going to her left to punch out a long shot by first-year Maya Fraser (Leverett, Mass.) in the 70th minute. Lore returned the favor, punching out a nice shot by first-year
Emma Radley (Skillman, N.J.) three minutes later.
Wellesley tacked on an insurance goal in the 78th minute as Chow-Gillette forced a turnover at the top of the Babson 18-yard box and slid a shot under a sliding Cottone to extend the lead to 2-0.
Cassady had a good attempt for the Beavers on a shot from the left side but it rolled just wide of the far post and the Wellesley defense protected its goal the rest of the way.
Both teams wrap up the regular season on Saturday at 1 p.m. as Babson travels to Emerson and Wellesley visits Mount Holyoke.
GAME NOTES
• Wednesday's outcome snapped an eight-game unbeaten streak (5-0-3) for Babson against Wellesley and the Beavers are now 24-20-10 all-time against the Blue in a series that dates back to 1982.
• Babson has outshot its opponent in 11 of the last 13 matches but has a 5-4-4 record to show for it.
• Cottone has conceded more than one goal in just three of her 18 appearances this season.
