BABSON PARK, Mass.— Junior
Lauren Golden (New Albany, Ohio) and senior
Helen DiGiovanni (Harwich, Mass.) scored two goals apiece as No. 6 Babson College overpowered crosstown rival Wellesley College, 6-0, in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) field hockey opener for both schools Saturday afternoon at MacDowell Field.
With the victory, the Beavers posted their third shutout victory in a row and improved to 5-2 overall and 1-0 in the NEWMAC. Visiting Wellesley dropped its second straight and dipped to 1-5 overall and 0-1 in conference play.
Junior
Charlotte Roe (Wayne, Pa.) and senior
Ashley Braren (Westwood, Mass.) also scored for the Green and White, and senior
Emma Smith (Kenilworth, Ill.) contributed a pair of assists. Seniors
Samantha Kelly (Rowley, Mass.) and
Jenny Purtell (Beverly, Mass.), juniors
Penny Baroni (Dennis, Mass.) and
Taylor Shoflick (Greenwood Village, Colo.), and sophomore
Molly DiGiulio (East Amherst, N.Y.) also registered assists in the victory.
Sophomore Katelyn Hurt (Dallas, Texas) had a busy day in the Wellesley goal and finished with a career-high 18 saves.
DiGiovanni took less than a minute to put Babsonin front as the Beavers scored on their first penalty corner. Smith received the corner at the top of the arc and ripped a shot towards the goal, and DiGiovanni deflected the ball past the Blue defense for an early 1-0 lead.
The Beavers started to pull away with a pair of second-quarter goals, starting with another penalty corner strike in the 17th minute. Hurt made a save on a shot by Smith, but DiGiulio pushed the rebound to Golden along the left goal line and she buried her first of the day. Braren added her first of the season in the 26th minute, finishing off a long pass from Baroni along the right goal line to Braren on the far post, and she finished to put the Beavers up 3-0 going into the intermission.
Golden connected on her second of the day late in the third period on a Babson penalty corner. Smith's shot from outside the circle went through traffic and Hurt before Golden finished off the goal, pushing it past a Wellesley defender at the goal line to extended the lead to 4-0.
The Green and White tacked on a pair of goals in the final four minutes of the game. Kelly dribbled the ball past a pair of defenders and inside the arc before passing to DiGiovanni in the slot, and DiGiovanni spun around and fired a shot past Hurt and inside of the left post. Roe finished off the scoring on a corner in the final minute of play, smashing a shot from just inside the arc that made its way inside the right side of the goal.
The Beavers finished with a 33-0 advantage in shots, including 24-0 in shots on target. The Beavers took all 10 penalty corners in the game.
Babson wraps up a three-game homestand next Saturday when they host Mount Holyoke at 12 p.m. at MacDowell Field. Wellesley plays at the University of New England on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
GAME NOTES
• Babson has captured the last 12 games against the Blue and is 24-28-1 all-time against Wellesley in a series that dates back to 1984.
• Golden doubled her career total to four goals with her two scores on Saturday, and Kelly's assist was her first point since scoring a goal in a win over Skidmore on September 20, 2023.
• DiGiovanni has at least one goal in five of her seven games this season with a pair of multi-goal outings.
• Babson has won 78 consecutive NEWMAC regular season games since 2015.
