SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. – Behind a three-point effort from both Diana Banmann and Charlotte Wagner, the 19th-ranked Mount Holyoke College field hockey team defeated Babson College by a 4-1 margin in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) action on Saturday. The Lyons improve to 12-1 overall and 4-1 in conference play, while the Beavers slip to 8-7 and 4-2 in the NEWMAC.
Mount Holyoke opened the scoring in a big way, jumping out to a 4-0 lead through the opening nine minutes of the contest. Banmann (Hannover, Germany/University of Potsdam), a junior forward, got the Lyons on the board with an unassisted tally just 1:34 into the game. She scored after finding the loose ball off a misdirected save and jammed it in past keeper Kayla Florence (Milton, Mass./Thayer Academy).
Wagner (West Chester, Pa./Westtown School) pushed the lead to 2-0 after she connected on a pass from Banmann on the right side into the left corner. It would be Banmann and Wagner once again on MHC's third goal as Wagner came down the right side of the circle and fed a pass across the slot to Banmann, who banged it home at 5:13.
The Lyons wrapped up the scoring in the half at the 8:23 mark as Wagner tallied her second of the game off a nice dribble pass from sophomore midfielder Sarah LaQuerre (Old Orchard Beach, Maine/Cheverus) and buried it in on the left side for the 4-0 lead.
Mount Holyoke held a 14-3 advantage in shots for the first half as Florence stopped five shots for the Beavers.
In the second half of action, Mount Holyoke opened play with six penalty corners over the course of the first 10 minutes of the stanza. Banmann and LaQuerre had back-to-back shots on goal following a corner at 40:52, but nice saves from Florence kept MHC at bay. Junior midfielder Kirsten Kilburn (North Branford, Conn./North Branford) also had a great attempt at 42:49, but the Beavers keeper was there for the kick save.
Babson finally broke onto the scoreboard at 57:58 as sophomore midfielder Elizabeth Holmes (Southborough, Mass./Algonquin Regional) directed in a feed from senior forward Morgan Lockwood (Feeding Hills, Mass./Agawam) through traffic in front of MHC goalie Liz DiCesare (Westford, Mass./Bishop Guertin) to cut it to a 4-1 deficit.
Mount Holyoke poured on the defensive pressure from that point and held the Beavers to just two shots in the frame to seal up their 12th win of the season. The Lyons held the advantage in shots, 24-5 and penalty corners, 15-6, aided by strong play from DiCesare, who was not forced to make a save in the contest.
Florence was outstanding in goal for the Beavers, stopping 13 shots in the contest.
Mount Holyoke returns to action on Tuesday when it hosts WPI at 7pm. Babson is also in action on Tuesday at Wheaton for a 7pm game.
