CAMBRIDGE, Mass.— Senior
Ashley Braren (Westwood, Mass.) scored the go-ahead goal with 6:12 remaining in the fourth quarter and No. 17 and second-seeded Babson College went on to defeat top-seeded MIT, 2-1, to claim its sixth consecutive New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) field hockey tournament title Saturday afternoon at Jack Barry Field.
The Beavers registered their seventh straight victory and improved to 15-6 on the season, while MIT dropped to 13-7 overall. The victory for the Green and White avenged a 1-0 loss to MIT back on October 6, which snapped Babson's 80-game NEWMAC regular season winning streak.
Braren was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. Senior
Helen DiGiovanni (Harwich, Mass.) scored the first goal and first-year
Kate Schneider (Walpole, Mass.) registered an assist for the Beavers, who outshot the hosts 20-3.
Senior Janie Thomas (Houston, Texas) scored the MIT goal on a penalty corner with assists from junior Drew Hussar (Dover, Mass.) and senior Sammi Blocher (Mechanicsburg, Pa.). Sophomore Alexia Ninios (London, England) was strong in the Engineers' goal, finishing with eight saves.
Defenses dominated the first half as only six shots were put on goal for the two teams combined, although two of the three goals were scored. Babson jumped on top three minutes into the second quarter when Schneider sent DiGiovanni in on a breakaway with a lead pass from midfield, and DiGiovanni outran the defense down the left side before burying a shot past Ninios for her 17th goal of the season.
The Engineers answered less than two minutes later, scoring on their first shot of the game in the 20th minute. Blocher inserted the corner from the left side to Hussar, who slid a pass to her left, and Thomas blasted a shot through traffic in front of the net for her eighth goal to even the score at 1-1.
After outshooting the hosts 5-1 in the first half, the Beavers upped the pressure on the MIT goal, taking all 11 shots in the third frame. Ninios kept the Engineers in the game, making four saves in the period.
Babson had four penalty corners in the four minutes of the fourth quarter, two of which led to shots by junior
Penny Baroni (Dennis, Mass.), but Ninios stopped both of them. MIT had a pair of corners but managed only one shot, which was blocked by the Babson defense.
The Beavers pulled ahead in the 54th minute when DiGiovanni put a shot on goal from the left end line, which was denied by Ninios. The rebound got loose and Braren got a spinning shot off that ended up in the back of the goal for what would be the game-winner. The Babson defense withstood three more MIT corners in the final five minutes, allowing only one shot, which was blocked.
Babson advances to the NCAA Tournament for the sixth year in a row and 11th time overall, and will learn their first-round opponent and site on the NCAA Selection Show on Sunday at 9 p.m. on NCAA.com.
GAME NOTES
• Babson has defeated MIT in the last six NEWMAC championship games and has 39-19 advantage over MIT in the all-time series that dates back to 1984.
• The Beavers have won 12 consecutive NEWMAC Tournament games since 2021 since falling to MIT in overtime in the 2019 title game.
• The Green and White won their eighth title overall following previous championships in 2010, 2016, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025.
• Babson, which conceded just one shot on goal to MIT, has allowed five or fewer shots on goal in 18 of 21 outings this season, and conceded one or zero shots on goal 11 times.
