BABSON PARK, Mass. – Jessica Evans scored nearly four minutes into the second quarter and seventh-ranked Babson College tacked on two more before halftime as the Beavers went on to a 5-0 win over the Keene State College field hockey team in an NCAA tournament first round game at MacDowell Field on Wednesday afternoon.

Highlights...coming soon
Postgame Press Conference

The Beavers (19-3) advance to the second round of the NCAA tournament for the eighth time in program history and will meet No. 11 Bates College on Saturday (November 16) at 2:00 p.m. in a game that will be played at Tufts University, the tournament's top overall seed.  Bates advanced with a 4-1 home win over Stevens Institute of Technology this afternoon.  The Owls conclude their season at 16-7, winning their league-record 15th Little East Conference championship this past Saturday.

Three goals in a 7:46 span in the second quarter helped host Babson jump into a commanding 3-0 lead late in the period, and the Beavers expanded on their advantage with two more tallies in 1:58 midway through the second to account for their scoring in what turned out to be their 14th straight win and 11th in 12 tries on their home field this season, with their lone loss a 2-1 decision to then No. 1 and six-time defending national champion Middlebury College.

Clara Gorman made 12 saves for the Owls on the day, including a pair in the first quarter to keep the game scoreless despite Babson having four of their 11 penalty corner chances in the period.  The Beavers scored on their initial opportunity in the second quarter as Katie Gudin intercepted a KSC pass off a restart and fired into the circle.  Gorman kicked the ball out, but Evans corralled the rebound and Evans lofted a backhand flip into the top left side of the cage for a 1-0 lead.  The Owls had a corner opportunity less than two minutes later with a chance to equalize, but Molly Murray shot wide of Babson goalkeeper Bayla Furmanek.

The Owls weathered an initial storm minutes later, as they blocked a Gudin attempt before Gorman denied Berit Sharrow and Demetria Gonzalez cleared away a shot from Ashley Braren.  However, two goals in 2:22 put the Beavers in command up 3-0.  Camille Marsh made it 2-0 in the 25th minute after she took a ball from Andrea Marguerite and rushed into the left side of the circle before backhanding a goal into the far post past Gorman.  Caroline DiGiovanni notched her team-high 19th goal at the 26:37 mark after she mashed home a rebound after Gorman made an initial save on Sharrow.

Gorman made three more saves in the opening eight minutes of the third, but another rebound goal – this one from Laney Reed – made it 4-0 in the 39th minute as the Beavers scored twice in 1:58.

Keene State's offense, which scored seven goals in two LEC tournament games following a stretch of a goal or less in four straight, generated chances as the third quarter wound down, but Furmanek denied Grace Bazin and Kalina Piasecki within 32 seconds of each other and two other tries in between those chances were blocked.  Furmanek also denied Piasecki in the 49th minute to preserve the shutout for Babson, their fourth straight and whopping 13th of the season in 22 games (59 percent).  KSC was blanked for the second time, joining a 4-0 loss to Worcester Polytechnic Institute on October 30.

The Owls lost for the third time in four all-time meetings against Babson, but were shut out for the first time.  They were bidding for their first nationally-ranked win since 2010 when they beat No. 11 Trinity College (Conn.) 2-1 and head coach Amy Watson's 500th career victory.  She will end the season needing just one to become the sixth active NCAA field hockey coach across all divisions to reach the milestone.

The loss draws the Owl careers of Irini Stefanakos, Hannah Wood, Molly Murray, and student assistant Ashley Enis to a close.  Murray notched the first double-digit goal season of her career in 2024, while Wood was named the Little East tournament Most Outstanding Player last weekend in her home state.  Stefanakos, who had 11 goals and 18 assists this season, is the program's all-time leader in assists and finishes her four seasons as an Owl with 63 goals (5th) and 50 assists (1st, eight more than Erin Dallas), good for 176 points (3rd, 11 behind Nina Bruno), and 15 game-winning goals.

KSC will return Bazin, Meghan Daileanes, Grace Seabury, and Piasecki as a foundation for 2025, with those four combining for 54 of the team's 83 goals on the season.  Bazin finished with 26 goals, tied for the second-most in Division III, and seven assists.

In winning their 15th league title – one of three Keene State conference championships this fall (men's cross country, women's cross country) – the Owls now have 12 more than the next closest field hockey competitors (University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth/Plymouth State University with three apiece).