BABSON PARK, Mass.—Junior captain Ruvimbo Mushavi (Harare, Zimbabwe) scored 4:53 into the second overtime as fifth-seeded Mount Holyoke College upset top-seeded Babson College, 1-0, in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) field hockey tournament semifinal on Saturday afternoon at MacDowell Field.
With the victory, Mount Holyoke (14-6) advances to the conference championship game for the third consecutive season and the fourth time in the last five years. Babson (17-3), ranked 12th in the most recent NFHCA national poll and first in the NCAA New England East regional rankings, will find out on Sunday if they earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Mushavi's first goal of the season – and the first of her career – came on the heels of Lyons' junior goalkeeper Liz DiCesare (Westford, Mass.) making a pair of saves to keep the game deadlocked less than a minute earlier. Mushavi collected the ball on the right wing and carried it inside the arc before ripping a blast into the far corner for the only goal of the match.
The Green and White finished with a 19-8 edge in shots, including 11-3 on goal, but for the second time this season was unable to solve DiCesare. She stopped 11 shots, including eight in the second half and overtime to blank the Beavers for the second time this year.
Babson first-year Ashley Tango (Reading, Mass.) had a pair of first-half shots kicked away, and DiCesare came up with a trio of stops in one four-second flurry midway through the second half. She denied a blast from Tango and then back-to-back shots by junior Staci Swallow (South Portland, Maine) and Tango with traffic in front of the cage to keep the game scoreless.
She came off her line to take the ball away from Beavers' first-year Catherine Gilman (Cohasset, Mass.) on a break away with 13 minutes left, and senior Elizabeth Holmes (Southborough, Mass.) redirected a shot just wide with 10:46 left in regulation.
The Green and White outshot Mount Holyoke 4-3 in overtime, while the Lyons attempted the only penalty corners of extra time.
Senior goalkeeper Kayla Costa (Watertown, Mass.) finished with two saves for the Beavers.
Mount Holyoke will take on either second-seeded Wellesley or third-seeded Smith in the NEWMAC Tournament championship game on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Game story courtesy of Jeremy Viens, Babson Athletic Communications Director.
