BABSON PARK, Mass.— Sophomore
Courtney Laden (Wilmette, Ill.) scored a career-high six goals and fourth-seeded Babson College outscored fifth-seeded Smith College 3-0 in the final 10 minutes to produce a 14-7 victory in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) women's lacrosse tournament quarterfinal game Saturday afternoon at MacDowell Field.
With their fourth straight victory, the Beavers improve to 11-6 overall and move on to the semifinals for the 10th consecutive season. Smith saw its season come to a close with a 10-8 overall record.
Laden added three draw controls to her totals, while graduate student
Livy Kehoe (Harvard, Mass.) contributed four draw controls and five ground balls. Senior
Lilly Bedard (Jupiter, Fla.) tallied two goals and three assists and junior
Jen Austin (Farmington, Conn.) added two goals, one assist and two ground balls in the victory. First-year
Grace Rooney (Milton, Mass.) chipped in with three draw controls and three caused turnovers and sophomore
Charleigh Newman (Woodbury, Conn.) was good for three caused turnovers and four ground balls.
Senior Caroline Sanders (Trabuco, Calif.) led the Bears with three goals and an assists along with a game-high seven draw controls and a pair of caused turnovers. Sophomore Jenna Paczkowski (Jupiter, Fla.) scored twice, junior Leigh Hillmanno (Yardville, N.J.) had a team-high three caused turnovers, and senior Brooke Testa (Pittstown, N.J.) was outstanding in goal with a season-high 15 saves along with five ground balls.
The Beavers came out strong with three goals in the opening 10 minutes, one each from Laden, Austin and a woman-up goal by senior
Tatum Sands (East Dorset, Vt.). Paczkowski put the Bears on the scoreboard with four minutes to go in the first quarter but Babson score the next four to open up a 7-1 lead early in the second. First-year
Jenna Wong (Walpole, Mass.) and Rooney had one each in the surge and Laden added a pair for the Beavers.
Paczkowski scored her second goal to stop the bleeding but Austin and Bedard pushed the lead up to 9-2 with five minutes to go in the half. Sophomore Layna Fitzgerals (Indianapolis, Calif.) and Sanders answered for Smith to slice the margin to 9-4 by halftime.
Laden and Bedard tacked on goals to start the third quarter, but Smith refused to give in and answered with three straight goals of their own. Sanders tallied a pair and junior Kyra Hawk (San jose, Calif.) added one as Smith climbed to within four goals at 11-7 early in the fourth quarter.
That would be the end of the comeback attempts for the Bears as Babson scored the final three goals, one by first-year
Hailey Murray (Swarthmore, Pa.) and two more from Laden so seal the victory.
Babson finished with a 41-14 advantage in shots, while forcing the visitors into 29 turnovers. The Green and White also had a 33-20 edge in ground balls and won 14 of the 23 draws in the game.
The Beavers will play at top-seeded MIT on Wednesday in the semifinals at 6 p.m. in Cambridge.
GAME NOTES
• Babson is 30-13 all-time against Smith in a series that dates back to 1987 and have won 24 consecutive games against the Bears since 2001.
• The Beavers and Bears have split four previous conference tournament matchups but Saturday's game was the first meeting between the two sides in the NEWMAC Tournament since 2004.
• Bedard improved her team-leading season totals to 35 goals and 36 assists and became the 20th player in program history to reach 70 points in a season.
• The Beavers are 8-2 at MacDowell Field this season, outscoring the opponents 141-69.
