No. 4 Springfield 0, No. 1 Babson 2 – Final

 With a Beaver Moon shining brightly over the field, top-seeded and third-ranked Babson College scored a pair of goals two minutes apart in the second quarter and a smothering defense held fourth-seeded Springfield College to just one shot on goal for a 2-0 victory in a NEWMAC field hockey tournament semifinal Thursday evening at MacDowell Field.
 
With their 15th consecutive victory, the Beavers improve to 19-1 overall and advance to the NEWMAC title game for the sixth straight year. Springfield had a four-game winning streak snapped and completes its season at 13-7 overall.
 
Senior Caroline DiGiovanni (Harwich, Mass.) and sophomore Penny Baroni (Dennis, Mass.) were the goal scorers for the Beavers, and junior Grace Mullaney (Boxford, Mass.) collected a pair of assists. First-year Madison Tibbals (Gorham, Maine) finished with one save for her fifth shutout of the season, with help from a back line of senior Sanne van der Goes (Glenview, Ill.), junior Emma Smith (Kenilworth, Ill.), sophomore Lauren Golden (New Albany, Ohio), and first-year Anna Bonazzoli (Clinton, Mass.).
 
First-year goalkeeper Sam Orcutt (Forestdale, Mass.) did her best in the Springfield goal to keep the Pride in the game and finished with five saves.
 
The first quarter was low scoring with just three shots and three penalty corners between the two teams. The best opportunity came from Babson when DiGiovanni hit the left post in the seventh minute.
 
The Beavers upped the pressure on the Pride goal in the second quarter with a series of seven unanswered corners. The Green and White finally broke through in the 26th minute when Baroni took a corner from Mullaney on the left side and fired a shot through traffic that beat Orcutt inside the right post for her 11th goal of the season and a 1-0 lead.
 
Babson doubled its lead two minutes later when Mullaney stole the ball in the middle third of the field and sent the ball toward the offensive zone, and DiGiovanni redirected the ball at the top of the arc past Orcutt for her conference-leading 24th of the season and a 2-0 lead at the intermission.
 
Springfield had its best opportunity of the game in the opening minute of the third quarter. The Pride came down the field in a transition and first-year Rachel Simkewicz (Westminster, Mass.) fired the ball from outside the zone on the right side toward the goal where senior Sarah Healy (Niantic, Conn.) pounded a shot on goal from point-blank range but was denied by Tibbals.
 
The Babson defense tightened up and did not allow Springfield any more shot attempts the rest of the period, keeping the Pride boxed into their own zone. Orcutt made a pair of nice saves on Mullaney and van der Goes early in the frame and another on Baroni late in the period to keep it a two-goal game.
 
It was a defensive game again in the final stanza as Springfield held Babson to just one corner and one shot by DiGiovanni, which was stopped by Orcutt, but the Pride could not solve the Beaver defense, despite a pair of corners and two shots, one that went wide and another that was blocked.
 
The Green and White had a 12-5 advantage in total shots and 7-1 in attempts on goal. The hosts also had a 12-4 margin in penalty corners.
 
Babson will host second-seeded WPI in the NEWMAC title game on Saturday at 12 p.m. at MacDowell Field, with the winner receiving an automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Tournament.
 
No. 3 MIT 1, No. 2 WPI 3 – Final

 Abbey Powers (Halifax, Mass.) scored twice in the opening quarter and Chloe Luongo (Amherst, N.H.) added a key insurance tally in the fourth as second-seeded WPI field hockey advanced to the NEWMAC Championship game with a 3-1 triumph over third-seeded MIT in a NEWMAC semifinal matchup at H. Carr Field at Alumni Stadium on Thursday afternoon.

With the win, WPI, recently ranked No. 24 in the National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) Division III National Coaches Poll, improved to 14-4 on the season and earn a spot in the NEWMAC title game for the first time in program history. MIT sees its season come to a close at 12-8 overall after a 7-2 regular season conference campaign.

WPI has four conference championships in program history during five years spanning from 1988-1992 in the NEW 8. This year's appearance in the conference title match will be the first for WPI since the NEWMAC was established in 1998 as the Engineers will square off with Babson, the four-time defending NEWMAC champions, who defeated fourth-seeded Springfield this evening 2-0 to book their sixth-straight appearance in the title contest.

The Crimson and Gray wasted no time jumping ahead as Powers converted a pass from Arie Lang (West Hartford, Conn.) just 34 seconds into the contest for her eighth goal of the season. Lang swept a ball through the Cambridge Engineers' defense that trickled in for the opening goal of the tilt. MIT leveled the score midway through the first period on a long pass into the circle by Marisa Montione (Charlotte, N.C.) that was tipped by Jane Tortorella (Old Greenwich, Conn.) and redirected to Shealy Callahan (Oak Park, Ill.) who knocked it to the back of the cage at 8:52. Powers regained the lead moments later for WPI, burying her own rebound after an initial stop, as her second-chance shot eluded both MIT netminder Maeve Zimmer (Rockville, Md.) and a last-ditch defensive save attempt by Audrey Oh (Longmeadow, Mass.) at 13:10.

Defense was the story from there as WPI goalkeeper Myles Lakin (Reading, Mass.) and the back line stood firm against a relentless MIT attack. Sophomore Madeline Chase (Concord, N.H.) came through with a defensive save in the second quarter to preserve the advantage, and both squads limited each other to just a solo attempt in the third stanza. 

WPI knocked in the final tally in the fourth as the hosts worked the ball around to Eve Martineau (Greene, Maine) off a penalty corner set who then fed Luongo as she dribbled in between two defenders and scored in the near side corner to extend the lead to 3-1 with 8:19 remaining. The visiting Engineers attempted to respond earning five penalty corners in the final 2:15 of the match and rattled off four strikes as Lakin saved a pair and the WPI defense blocked the other looks.

For the contest, MIT held an 11-7 edge in total shots as WPI enjoyed a 5-4 edge in shots on target as Cambridge's Engineers compiled a 12-3 advantage in penalty corners. Lakin finished with two saves, while MIT's Zimmer made a pair of stops of her own.

WPI will travel to top-seeded Babson, and third in the NFHCA Division III National Coaches Poll, on Saturday with the conference's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament on the line in a match scheduled for a 1pm start.
 
About the NEWMAC

The NEWMAC is an association of 12 selective academic institutions: Babson College, Clark University, U.S Coast Guard Academy, Emerson College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Mount Holyoke College, Salve Regina University, Smith College, Springfield College, Wellesley College, Wheaton College, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute, that are committed to providing high quality competitive athletic opportunities for student-athletes within an educational and respectful environment that embodies the NCAA Division III Philosophy. The conference also partners with eight Associate Members: Brandeis University (Women's Lacrosse, 2026-2027), New York University (Men's Volleyball, 2026-2027), Norwich University (Football), Simmons College (Rowing), SUNY Maritime College (Football), SUNY New Paltz (Men's Volleyball, 2026-2027), U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (Football), and Vassar College (Men's Volleyball, 2026-2027), while sponsoring 20 sports.