BABSON PARK, Mass.— Senior Lilly Bedard (Jupiter, Fla.) scored two goals and added three assists as one of five players who scored two goals and No. 18 Babson College held off a Salve Regina University comeback for a 15-10 victory in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) women's lacrosse game Wednesday afternoon at MacDowell Field.

With the victory, Babson stopped a two-game losing streak and improved to 8-6 overall and 5-3 in the NEWMAC. Salve Regina lost its second in a row and fell to 7-7 overall and 3-5 in conference games.

Sophomore Courtney Laden (Wilmette, Ill.) and first-years Jenna Wong (Walpole, Mass.), Grace Rooney (Milton, Mass.) and Ellie Schiller (Phoenix, Ariz.) scored two goals each for the Beavers. Laden also contributed seven draw controls, two caused turnovers and two ground balls, Rooney grabbed three draw controls and a pair of caused turnovers, and first-year Riley Burke (Ridgewood, N.J.) had a team-high three caused turnovers. Graduate student Livy Kehoe (Harvard, Mass.) finished with two caused turnovers and a team-high three ground balls, and first-year Francesca Tamburini (North Bend, Wash.) made one save and earned the victory in her first career start in goal.

Sophomore Madison Maire (East Moriches, N.Y.) led the Seahawks with three goals and an assist and junior Alix Madden (Plymouth, Mass.) and sophomore Nora Cooney (Portsmouth, R.I.) tallied two goals each. Junior Daniela Bruno (Niantic, Conn.) filled up the stat sheet with a goal and an assist to go along with five draw controls and three ground balls, sophomore Adelaide Baird (Springfield, Va.) and junior Anne Kennedy (Barnstable, Mass.) each caused three turnovers, and Bruno and Baird scooped up three ground balls each. Sophomore Mary Flynn Kayajan (Hyannis, Mass.) made 10 saves in goal in the setback.

It looked like it would be a Babson runaway after the Beavers scored the first seven goals of the game, including two by Bedard and one each from Laden and first-years Caroline Burtch (Norwell, Mass.), Allie Collins (Sudbury, Mass.), Margaux Boneu (Portsmouth, R.I.), and Wong. Madden gave the Seahawks a spark with her first goal of the game with 13 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

The Beavers extended their lead with three unanswered goals in the second quarter. Rooney and Laden scored back-to-back goals 16 seconds apart with just under six seconds remaining and Wong tacked on another in the final minute to give the hosts a 10-1 margin at halftime.

The Seahawks came alive in the second half with the first two and four of the first five goals of the third quarter. Madden and Cooney got the rally started and Bruno and grad student Lois Manning (Little Compton, R.I.) added two more to cut the margin to 11-5 with 5:38 remaining in the third. Babson closed out the third frame with consecutive goals by Schiller and first-year Hailey Murray (Swarthmore, Pa.) to restore an eight-goal lead after three, 13-5.

First-year Avery Nistl (South Hamilton, Mass.) opened the fourth-quarter scoring for Salve but Rooney answered for the Beavers. Maire then took over the scoring for the Seahawks with three straight goals, including one on a woman-up situation, as the Babson lead shrunk to 14-9 with four minutes remaining. Junior Jen Austin (Farmington, Conn.) stopped the bleeding with three minutes to go and Cooney scored again with two minutes to go before the clock ran out on the Seahawks' comeback attempt.

Babson finished with a 30-17 advantage in shots and a 15-11 lead in ground balls as well as winning 19 of the 27 draws.

The Beavers play their last regular season home game against Mount Holyoke on Saturday at 1 p.m. Salve Regina plays at Clark on Saturday in Worcester at 7 p.m.

GAME NOTES
• Babson is 6-0 all-time against Salve Regina in a series that dates back to 2001 although Wednesday's outcome was the smallest margin of victory.
• The Beavers are 6-2 at MacDowell Field this season, outscoring the opponents 104-60, and are 12-3 at home since last season.
• The Green and White have won 33 of its last 37 NEWMAC regular season games going back to 2023.
• The Beavers are 8-0 this season and 33-2 going back to 2024 when winning more draws than its opponents.