Babson Park, MA --- Sophomore Staci Swallow (South Portland, ME) had a goal and an assist, and Babson College scored twice in the second half to defeat visiting WPI, 2-0, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) field hockey action on Saturday afternoon at MacDowell Field. 

With its fifth win in the last six games, Babson is now 8-4 overall and 3-0 in conference play, while WPI drops to 6-3 overall and 1-2 in the NEWMAC. 

Despite outshooting the Engineers 6-0 and attempting five of the stanza's six penalty corners, the teams went into the half deadlocked at 0-0. Senior Caroline Malone (Walpole, MA) had the two best scoring chances of the period for the Beavers, but was denied by WPI junior goalkeeper Lauren Puishys (Oxford, MA) in the 19th minute after taking a centering feed from sophomore Victoria Spofford (Merrimac, MA), and again in the 24th minute after receiving a pass from junior Melanie Jordan (Westford, MA) following a corner. 

The Green and White finally broke through just 6:34 into the second half on Swallow's fifth marker of the season. After earning a penalty corner, Babson was denied on its first two shots, including a defensive save by Engineers' junior SarahRose Gabor (Cazenovia, NY) before Spofford slid a pass to Swallow in front of the cage for a 1-0 lead. 

Babson extended its lead when first-year Julie Mortimer (Spencer, Mass.) notched her first collegiate goal at the 57:42 mark. Following a corner and a scramble in front of the cage, Swallow slipped a pass across the goal mouth to Mortimer, who was at the right post to make it 2-0. 

WPI's best scoring chances came in the closing minutes as Beavers' junior goalkeeper Kayla Costa (Watertown, MA) denied a lofted shot by sophomore Jena Mazzucco (Danbury, CT) with 3:12 remaining, and sophomore Corinne Urisko (Princeton, NJ) came up with a defensive save on a shot by junior Rachel Cody (Dover-Foxcroft, ME) with 2:46 left in the game. 

Costa finished with one save to post the second shutout of her career, while Puishys stopped five shots for the Engineers. 

The Green and White finished with an 11-6 edge in shots and a 12-4 advantage in penalty corners. 

Both teams return to action with conference games on Tuesday as Babson travels to nationally-ranked Wellesley at 4 p.m., while WPI will be at Clark for a 7 p.m. start. 

Release Courtesy Babson Sports Information