BABSON PARK, Mass.—First-year Hailey Murray (Swarthmore, Pa.) tied for game-high honors with four goals and senior Lilly Bedard (Jupiter, Fla.) contributed three goals and four assists for a career-high seven points to help No. 18 Babson College defeat visiting Smith College, 16-8, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) women's lacrosse action on Saturday afternoon at MacDowell Field. 

With its second consecutive victory, Babson improves to 5-2 overall and 2-1 in conference play. Smith dips to 7-4 overall and 3-1 in the NEWMAC with the loss. 

Sophomore Estelle Gromko (Ipswich, Mass.) and first-year Grace Rooney (Milton, Mass.) both finished with three goals, two ground balls and one caused turnover, while sophomore Courtney Laden (Wilmette, Ill.) provided two goals, four draw controls, three caused turnovers and two ground balls to lead the Beavers. Senior Tatum Sands (East Dorset, Vt.) chipped in with three draw controls and two ground balls I the win, while sophomore Charleigh Newman (Woodbury, Conn.) and first-years Allie Collins (Sudbury, Mass.) and Jenna Wong (Walpole, Mass.) each added two caused turnovers. 

Junior Kyra Hawk (San Jose, Calif.) scored three of her goals in the second half and senior Caroline Sanders (Trabuco, Calif.) finished with two goals and three assists for five points in addition to leading all players with six draw controls for the Bears. Fellow senior Yasmin Grant (South Orange, N.J.) tied for game-high honors with three caused turnovers and classmate Shannon Houtenville (East Windsor, N.J.), who made her second start of the year, and senior Brooke Testa (Pittstown, N.J.) combined to make three saves in the loss. 

Rooney and Bedard staked the Green and White to a 2-0 lead just over two minutes into the contest and the hosts answered Sanders' first tally with a six-goal run to build an 8-1 advantage. First-year Margaux Boneu (Portsmouth, R.I.) closed the first quarter with her first career marker to make it 4-1, Rooney and Gromko both scored for the second time early in the second and Bedard completed her hat trick to with 5:11 to go before halftime. 

Hawk snapped a scoreless drought of nearly 23 minutes for Smith with her first goal 1:07 before the break, but Bedard set up goals by Laden and Murray just 21 seconds apart to extend the Beavers' lead to 10-2 at the half. 

The Bears, who committed 17 of their season-high 29 turnovers in the opening half, clawed back into the game four straight goals to pull within 10-6 on junior Danika Lipchitz's (Needham, Mass.) marker with 7:19 to go in the third. The visitors answered tallies by Murray and Rooney to again cut the deficit to four with 11:10 remaining in the fourth before Babson closed with four unanswered goals over the final eight-plus minutes. 

Laden and Gromko scored consecutive man-up goals 1:59 apart to make it 14-8 at the 6:05 mark and Murray tallied twice over the final 2:25 for the final margin. 

The Beavers finished with a 24-16 edge in shots, a 23-16 ground ball advantage and converted all five of their free-position shots. Smith held a slim 14-11 margin in draw controls. 

Babson returns to action on Sunday when it hosts No. 1/1 Middlebury at 1 p.m., while the Bears return home to face Salve Regina on Wednesday at 6 p.m. 

GAME NOTES
•    The Beavers are 29-13 all-time against Smith and have won 23 straight games between the teams, which includes 13 victories in a row at home.
•    Babson recorded a season-high five free-position goals and is now 15-2 over the last three seasons when it scores at least four. 
•    The Green and White is 5-1 this spring and has won 68 of its last 70 games when holding its opponents to fewer than 11 goals.
•    The Beavers have won 29 of their last 30 NEWMAC regular season games dating back to April 2, 2023.