WELLESLEY, MA - Third-seeded Babson College withstood a late
rally from seventh seeded Wellesley College to advance to the 2007
New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Women's
Soccer Championships on Sunday. The Beavers were 3-2 winners
over the Blue in a rainy and windy affair held on the Wellesley
campus.
The game went back and forth at the start of the first half with
the best chance for either team coming in the 15th minute when
Wellesley's Jordan Akerley (Gilford, NH) got the ball on a
breakaway. Akerley launched ashot, but Babson keeper Sam
Scarpato (Weston, MA) dove and knocked the ball away to preserve
the 0-0 tie.
In the 30th minute, Babson struck first with a goal by Shir
Castel (Boston, MA) that was just over the head of Wellesley keeper
Katie Martore (Great Falls, VA). The score gave the Beavers a
1-0 lead that they would carry into halftime.
Babson retained the momentum after the half and scored twice in
the first 10 minutes to take a 3-0 lead. At 52:09, Castel
scored her second goal of the game off of an assist from Nikki
Stier (Deerfield, MA). Just a little over two minutes later,
Stier scored a goal of her own, the eventual game-winner,
which gave the Beavers a 3-0 advantage.
The game appeared to be out of reach for Wellesley until the
78th minute when Blue senior Jennifer Lau (Honolulu, HI) scored
unassisted to cut the Babson lead to 3-1. 45 seconds later,
Lau struck again, this time on a pass from Deirdre Garrahan
(Fairfax Station, VA) that closed the score to 3-2, still in favor
of Babson.
With the lead down to just one, Babson went back on the
attack. Castel launched two shots that were saved by Martore
in the final ten minutes and then, with 3:40 left to play, Babson's
Callie Pillig (Dalton, MA) shot a ball that appeared to be headed
toward the goal. However, Wellesley's Kathleen Keating
(Arlington, VA) knocked the ball away to keep the score at
3-2.
Wellesley was unable to control play over the remaining three
minutes of the game as Babson held on for the 3-2
win.
In goal for Wellesley, Martore finished with 10 saves. The
Blue end the season with a 7-8-3 record and will await ECAC playoff
selections.
Scarpato finished the game with five saves for the
Beavers. The win improves Babson's record to 11-6-2 on the
season and advances them to the championship game where they will
take on Wheaton College at Wheaton tomorrow at 1:00.