EWING, N.J.— Senior Marissa Lucca (Sewell, N.J.) and sophomore Kelly Nevins (Warwick, N.Y.) finished with five points apiece as No. 14/15 The College of New Jersey defeated No. 24/14 Babson College, 12-6, in a battle of nationally-ranked women's lacrosse teams Wednesday afternoon at the TCNJ Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex.

With the loss, Babson dropped its second game in a row and dipped to 3-2 overall while TCNJ won its fifth consecutive game to remain undefeated at 5-0.

Sophomore Courtney Laden (Wilmette, Ill.) scored two goals and grabbed three draw controls and junior Claire Jones (Sudbury, Mass.) registered three caused turnovers, three ground balls, and two draw controls to lead the Beavers. First-year Jenna Wong (Walpole, Mass.) tallied a goal and an assist, senior Lilly Bedard (Jupiter, Fla.) collected two assists, and grad student Livy Kehoe (Harvard, Mass.) and first-years Grace Rooney (Milton, Mass.) and Hailey Murray (Swarthmore, Pa.) scored once each in the loss. Junior Morgan McGahan (Ho Ho Kus, N.J.) made seven saves in goal for the Green and White.

Nevins scored four goals and added an assist while Lucca produced three goals, two assists, three draw controls, three caused turnovers and four ground balls for the Lions. Junior CJ Kole (Asbury, N.J.) contributed three goals, an assist and seven draw controls and sophomore Ashley Herlihy (Clinton, N.J.) grabbed seven ground balls, while fifth-year goalie Hailey Wexler (Plainsboro, N.J.) made a season-high 13 saves in the victory.

Babson scored three of the first four goals in the opening six minutes of the game. Laden opened the scoring in the first minute with an assist from sophomore Lauren Caley (Beverly, Mass.), and Kehoe followed two minutes later. First-year Evie Campbell (Maplewood, N.J.) put the Lions on the back before Laden put the Beavers up 3-1 with 9:33 remaining in the first quarter.

TCNJ got goals from Nevins and sophomore Abbie Teefy (Dennis Twp., N.J.) to closed out the quarter and took the lead on a woman-up goal by Lucca to start the second frame. Murray tied the score at 4-4 for Babson but Kole and Nevins tallied woman-up goals and Lucca added her second of the game as the Lions took a 7-4 lead into halftime.

Wong notched her second of the game to open the third quarter but the Lions shut down the Beaver offense for the next 22 minutes while scoring four goals, two by Nevins and one each by Kole and Lucca. Rooney scored a woman-up goal with 5:40 remaining in the fourth quarter but it was too little, too late for the Beavers.

Babson finished with a 30-25 margin in total shots and 17-13 in shots on goal. The Beavers had a slim 21-20 lead in ground balls while the Lions controlled 11 of the 20 draws. TCNJ was 5-of-8 on free position shots while Babson was just 1-of-4.

The Beavers resume NEWMAC action next Wednesday, March 25, when they host Wellesley at 4 p.m. on MacDowell Field. TCNJ hosts Roanoke on Saturday at 1 p.m.

GAME NOTES
• Babson is 0-2 all-time against The College of New Jersey in a series that dates back to 2021.
• Laden has collected at least one ground ball, one caused turnover and one draw control against all five opponents this spring.
• Bedard has at least two points and Wong has scored at least one goal in all five games this spring.