MEDFORD, Mass.— Sophomore Eleanor Helm (Loudonville, N.Y.) finished with a goal and an assist as No. 1 Tufts University scored a pair of fourth-quarter goals to outlast No. 7 Babson College, 2-0, in a battle of top-10 field hockey teams Tuesday evening at Ounjian Field.
With the loss, the Beavers had a four-game winning streak snapped and fell to 6-3 overall, while the Jumbos improved to 8-0 on the season with their 13th win in a row dating back to last season. All three Babson losses this season have come to top-10 teams.
Sophomore
Madison Tibbals (Gorham, Maine) made a season-high nine saves in the Babson goal. Juniors
Penny Baroni (Dennis, Mass.) and
Charlotte Roe (Wayne, Pa.) each put two shots on goal to lead the offense in the setback.
Senior Lilly Ragusa (Newburyport, Mass.) also scored for the hosts, who got five of their 11 shots on target from Helm. Senior Isabel Ginns (Montclair, N.J.) made six saves in goal for her fourth shutout of the season.
Tufts had the upper hand in the first quarter, registering four shots in the opening 15 minutes. Tibbals denied both Helm and Ragusa in the first three minutes and a shot by junior Eleanor Luft (Ridgefield, Conn.) midway through the frame. Babson first-year
Kate Schneider (Walpole, Mass.) had her attempt in the 11th minute rejected by Ginns.
The Beavers ramped up their play in the middle 30 minutes of the game, outshooting the Jambos 10-3 in the second and third quarters, keeping the Jumbos on their heels and largely unable to get the ball out of their own end. The Green and White had three of the four shots as well as their first penalty corner in the second quarter, then outshot the hosts 7-2 with all three corners in the third frame but was unable to get one past Ginns.
The Jumbos capitalized on a Babson turnover early in the fourth quarter. Sophomore Scarlett Carpenter (San Francisco, Calif.) broke up a clear attempt deep in the right corner and sent the ball to Helm inside the arc, who passed to Ragusa in the slot. Ragusa's shot was deflected by a Beaver defender and bounced up and over Tibbals' head and into the back of the cage in the 47th minute to break the scoreless tie.
The goal energized the hosts, who managed six more shots over the next six minutes, forcing Tibbals to make four saves to keep it a one-goal affair. Helm eventually picked up the ball along the left sideline, dribbled inside the circle before chipping the ball over a charging Tibbals and into the goal for her team-leading 10th goal of the season and a 2-0 lead with just over five minutes remaining.
The Green and White were able to get one more shot down the stretch but the attempt by senior
Helen DiGiovanni (Harwich, Mass.) went wide.
Tufts finished with a 15-12 advantage in shots and 11-6 in attempts on target. Babson had a slim 5-4 margin in penalty corners.
The Beavers return to New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play on Saturday at WPI at 4:30 p.m. in Worcester. Tufts travels to No. 14 Amherst on Saturday for a 12 p.m. encounter.
GAME NOTES
• Babson is 9-24 all-time against Tufts in a series that dates back to 1994, although Tufts' win was just the second in the last seven encounters against the Beavers.
• The nine saves for Tibbals are the third-most in her 31-game career, behind the 12 saves against then-No. 1 Middlebury last September and 10 stops against then-No.2 Johns Hopkins in the NCAA Tournament semifinals last November.
• The Beavers are 2-3 against ranked opponents this season and 9-5 against ranked teams since the beginning of last season.
• The Jumbos are the defending national champions, and have won 24 of their last 25 games since falling to Babson last September.
