Box Score WELLESLEY, Mass.—Freshman Jessica Kelley contributed her first career points with a goal and an assist, and senior Caroline Malone became just the seventh player in program history to surpass 100 points as Babson College defeated Eastern Connecticut State University, 3-1, in non-conference field hockey action on Tuesday afternoon at MacDowell Field.
At right: MaryKate Custer (Photo by Liam Murphy)
Babson (5-3) has won two straight and Eastern (4-3) has dropped its last two (both on the road) after winning four in a row. The Beavers remain unbeaten (9-0) all-time against the Warriors with their fourth home victory this year against a single loss.
Midway through the first half, sophomore MaryKate Custer (South Windsor) beat a defender and slipped the ball past Beavers' junior goalkeeper Kayla Costa, Custer's third goal of the season giving the Warriors a 1-0 lead at the 19:08 mark. Kelly tied it just over eight minutes later though, converting a feed from sophomore Kelsi McDougle following a penalty corner for her first career goal in the 28th minute.
After earning a pair of penalty corners early in the second half, the hosts went ahead for good just 5:40 into the period on sophomore Staci Swallow's third goal of the year. After Malone's insert, Babson worked the ball to the right side of the arc where Kelly's centering pass was redirected by Swallow and inside the right post for a 2-1 advantage.
Eastern sophomore goalkeeper Samanth Scavo (Redding) made a pair of saves with just over 20 minutes remaining to keep the margin at one, but Malone gave the Beavers some breathing room with a blast from the top of the circle that made it through some traffic in front of the cage for a 3-1 with 16 minutes remaining in the contest. Babson made the lead stand up by blocking three shots and getting a pair of saves from Costa on scoring attempts by junior Hannah Keiser (Danbury) over the final minutes to secure the victory.
Costa finished with three saves for Babson, while Scavo stopped eight shots, all in the second half, for the Warriors.
Babson, which has losses this season to No. 4 nationally-ranked Tufts University and No. 7 Skidmore College, held a 20-12 advantage in shots and a 13-8 edge in penalty corners.
Eastern hosts Framingham State Saturday at noon in a Little East Conference match. Having split its first two conference matches, Eastern had beaten the Rams the last two season and in three of the last four meetings. The Warriors were ranked ninth in the LEC pre-season poll, Framingham 12th (last).
Babson College Sports Information contributed to this game account.
