Blue Lacrosse Grabs 8-6 Win Over Babson

BABSON PARK, Mass.— Junior Chesley Hooker (Cypress, Texas) and sophomore Nikki Sharkin (Summit, N.J.) each scored twice as visiting Wellesley College lacrosse defeated Babson College, 8-6, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) action on Wednesday afternoon at MacDowell Field. 

With its second straight victory, Wellesley is now 5-3 overall and 2-2 in conference play, while Babson drops to 3-8 overall and 2-2 in the NEWMAC.

Sharkin added two groundballs, two draw controls and a team-high two caused turnovers for the Blue. Senior Claire Canty (East Rockaway, N.Y.) contributed a goal and an assist, while junior Nicole DeCanio (Weston, Conn.) and sophomores Courtney Peterson (Glastonbury, Conn.) and Mary Lemay (Longmeadow, Mass.) all scored once.

Junior McKenzie Tucci (Winchester, Mass.) scored a pair of goals, and classmate Kayla Farina (Newton, Mass.) dished out three assists to lead the Beavers. Farina also contributed a game-high four groundballs and added two caused turnovers.

Sharkin put Wellesley in front 3:34 into the contest, and Canty and Lemay followed with back-to-back markers just 1:15 apart to give the visitors a 3-0 lead at the 20:18 mark. First-year Charlotte O'Halloran (Middletown, R.I.) buried a free-position shot to get the Green and White on the board with 18:51 to go in the opening stanza, and senior Rachel Secrist (Westford, Mass.) followed a pair of saves by sophomore goalkeeper Stevie Burger(Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) with her 30^th goal of the year to make it 3-2 with 8:01 left in the half.

DeCanio converted a feed from Canty with just under six minutes to play, and Hooker followed with a free-position tally just over a minute later to give the Blue a 5-2 edge at halftime.

Hooker gave Wellesley its biggest lead of the game with her second goal of the day 5:11 into the second half. Tucci scored off a pass from Farina to make it 6-3 with 20:51 left, but the Blue won the ensuing draw and Sharkin again made it a four-goal game with her second tally at the 19:37 mark.

The Beavers forced a pair of turnovers over the next two and a half minutes, and got back within 7-4 when first-year Mallory Joyce (Harwich, Mass.) converted a feed from sophomore Christine Gill (Hingham, Mass.) with 16:07 to play. Tucci followed with her second marker of the day to make it 7-5 with 12:12 remaining in the game.

Burger made a save on Canty on Wellesley's next possession, but first-year Jenny Gubner (Pleasanton, Calif.) collected the groundball which led to Peterson's tally to make it 8-5 with 10:51 to go. First-year Julia Harrigan (Portsmouth, R.I.) cut the deficit to 8-6 with 3:35 to play, but Babson was unable to get off another shot despite forcing three turnovers over the final three minutes.

Burger stopped five shots for the Green and White, while Wendy Nettleton (LaJolla, Calif) made six of her eight saves in the first half for the Blue.

The Beavers held a 19-12 edge in groundballs and went 8-of-9 on clear opportunities while forcing Wellesley into 20 turnovers.

The Blue finished with a 10-6 edge in draw controls and went 5-of-10 on free-position shots.

Both teams return to action on Saturday as Babson hosts Smith at 2:30 p.m., while Wellesley takes on Coast Guard at 11 a.m.

Courtesy Babson Athletic Communications