Springfield, Mass. - March 19, 2022 - The Springfield College women's lacrosse team raced past Babson, 15-10, in its New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) opener on Stagg Field on Saturday.

In a rematch of last year's NEWMAC Championship, Springfield led by as many as eight goals in the second half to improve to 3-2 on the year, while the Beavers slipped to 2-3. 

Taylor Pichel (Hopkinton, Mass.) was outstanding on the offensive end of the ball as she produced seven points on six goals and an assist.  Arielle Johnson (Woodstock, Conn.) handed out four assists to go along with a goal of her own and  Katie Martel (Hartland, Conn.) scored four times en route to five points.  Katie Campbell (Somers, N.Y.) grabbed a game-high six draw controls and Haley Moody (Wells, Maine) was credited with 13 stops for the Pride.

Babson owned a 30-27 edge in shots for the game and a 15-12 advantage in ground balls.  Despite Springfield turning the ball over 22 times, the Pride won 20-of-28 draw controls and were 4-for-6 on free-position shots.   Babson's Erin Jayne had three assists and Nicole Darveau scored three times.  Kathleen Murphy totaled nine saves in the loss. 

The Pride jumped out to a 2-0 lead less than four minutes into the game on a free-position strike from Pichel and an inside score from Jade O'Connor (Baltimore, Md.) before Sophia McCann scored on the man advantage at 8:50 to make it a one-goal contest.  Maddie Roy (Wilbraham, Mass.) finished on the run just over 30 seconds later and Pichel buried a Roy feed at 7:40 to force the Beavers into a timeout.  The teams would trade goals in the final five minutes of the quarter as Springfield held a 5-2 edge after 15 minutes of play. 

In the second quarter, the hosts outscored Babson by a 4-1 margin, with Holly Rivers (Danbury, Conn.) connecting for a pair of goals in the frame.  Pichel would close out the second with her fourth of the game on a great look by Johnson from behind the cage to give Springfield a 9-3 halftime lead. 

After Babson scored the first goal of the second half at the 7:30 mark, Springfield strung together three-straight strikes in a 2:03 span to have their lead balloon to 12-4 following another free-position goal from Pichel.  The visitors find the back of the cage in the final second of the stanza to make it a 12-5 game heading into the fourth.

Springfield would maintain a seven-goal edge when Martel scored at 7:36 to make it 14-7, and despite a late push from the Beavers, Springfield was able to win its conference lidlifter by a five-goal margin. 

Springfield will continue its three-game homestand on Thursday when it hosts Trinity at 4 pm.

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