SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. – Nine different players scored, led by junior midfielder Rachel Secrist's game-best five, to lead Babson College to a 17-8 victory over Mount Holyoke College in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) lacrosse action on Wednesday afternoon.
The Beavers improve to 3-6 overall and remain perfect in conference play with a 2-0 mark. MHC moves to 4-5 on the season and 0-2 in the NEWMAC.
Secrist (Westford, Mass./Westford Academy) added three assists to her goal total to finish with eight points on the afternoon for Babson. Senior attack Misha Beatty (Westwood, Mass./Westwood) added four goals and three assists, while sophomore attack McKenzie Tucci (Winchester, Mass./Winchester) chipped in with two goals and two assists.
Mount Holyoke was paced by senior attack Liz Randolph (Southbury, Conn./Pomperaug), who recorded three goals and two assists on the day. Sophomore Julia Bell (Longmeadow, Mass./Wilbraham and Monson) had two goals, while junior captain Kirsten Kilburn (North Branford, Conn./North Branford) added a goal and an assist.
Babson set the tone in the game early as goals from first year Delaney Carroll (Acton, Mass./Acton-Boxborough Regional), classmate Katie McKenna (Sandwich, Mass./Sandwich) and Beatty put the visitors up by a 3-0 edge. Randolph closed the gap to two (3-1) at the 15:47 mark, but three more tallies, including two from Secrist pushed the Babson lead to 6-1.
Mount Holyoke rallied to make it 6-2 on a goal by Kilburn, but Tucci fired a last second goal in, off a beautiful feed from Beatty, to make it a 7-2 Beavers lead at halftime.
The visitors continued to hold the momentum to start the second half with a three goal spurt over the first six minutes of the frame. Beatty paved the way, sending two straight past the reach of Katherine Kayser-Hirsh (Amherst, Mass./Amherst Regional) in the MHC net.
Down 10-2, Bell cut the deficit for the Lyons at the 21:58 mark with her 40th goal of the season, but Beatty and Secrist responded to make it a 12-3 game. Randolph and Bell then each scored for MHC, but four goals from Babson pushed the score to 16-6 with 2:21 to play.
Randolph struck with her third of the game at 1:14, but the first goal of the season from first year attack Kathryn Olivier (Westford, Mass./Westford Academy) gave the visitors an insurmountable lead with 15 seconds left to play.
In goal, Babson senior Julie Baharestani (Syosset, N.Y./Syosset) made 14 saves over 55:08 of action. First year Stevie Burger (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas) did not make any stops in 4:52 of relief. For MHC, Kayser-Hirsh stopped three shots.
Mount Holyoke held a 32-25 advantage in shots and also edged out the Beavers in ground balls by a 22-17 margin. The Lyons also had a 15-11 edge in draw controls, while Babson was 2-for-4 in free position attempts.
MHC is back in action next Thursday when it closes out is four-game homestand against Western Connecticut State at 6pm. Babson is in action on Tuesday, hosting Plymouth State at 4pm.
