Women’s Lacrosse Rolls past Rhodes (Tenn.) for its first win of the season, 20-11

ST. LEO, Fla.- Senior Erin Jayne (Merrimac, Mass.) and a Ph.D Emily Curtis (Walpole, Mass.) had four goals and three assists in both and as a sophomore Clare Connolly (Hanover, Mass.) had three goals and two assists and tallied a career-high 13 draws as Babson College defeated Rhodes College (Tenn.) 20-11 in a nonconference women’s lacrosse game Monday night on the Saint Leo University Turf. Stadium.

With the win, Babson picked up its first win of the season and improved to 1-3, while Rhodes, which finished last spring with a 15-4 record after winning the Southern Athletic Association (SAA) and advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. , fell to 3-4 this season.

Senior Claudia Dodge (Pelham, NY) scored three goals for Babson as a sophomore Kathryn Blake (Medfield, Mass.) added two goals and an assist and a senior Anna Katherine Sypniewski (Vero Beach, Fla.) had a goal and an assist in the win. Junior Nicole Darveau (Sudbury, Mass.) and sophomores Jessica Evans (Southbury, Conn.) and Cameron Rabenold (Cincinnati, Ohio) each and the junior scored once Kayleigh Hacker (Natick, Mass.) caught a team-high five ground balls.

Junior Avery Burke (Dunn Loring, Va.) led the Lynx with five goals and six draws, senior Carina Wesker (Baltimore, Md.) added three goals and senior Emily Bruner (Gaithersburg, Md.) had three assists. Sophomore Anna Erskine (Arlington, Va.) had two goals and junior Chloe Parker (Sparks, Md.) had one goal and caused three turnovers in the reverse.

Babson stormed out of the gates in the first five minutes, with two goals and two assists from Connolly, two goals from Dodge and a goal and assist from Curtis. Curtis, Evans and Darveau found the back of the net to extend the Beaver margin to 8-0 before Rhodes got on the board with a pair in the final minutes of the first quarter to make it 8-2 after one frame.

The Green and White continued to attack with three first downs and four first downs of the second period, including Jayne’s three goals and Dodge’s one. Rhodes got back-to-back goals from Wesker and Burke, but Babson responded with four of the next four goals to end the first half with goals from Rabenold, Blake, Curtis and Jayne, and the teams went into the break with Babson in the lead. up 16-6.

Both teams scored twice in the third quarter. Erskine and Burke scored a Rhodes goal around Blake and Curtis Babson punts, and the teams took turns scoring in the fourth quarter to complete the scoring.

The Beavers finished with a 32-19 advantage in shots, a 15-10 margin in ground balls and a 20-13 advantage in draws. Sophomore at Babson Kathleen Murphy (Scarborough, Maine) made five saves and Rhodes senior Emma Bradley (Alexandria, Va.) made four stops at the other end.

Babson returns home to open its 2023 New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) schedule this Saturday against defending champion and preseason favorite Springfield at 1 p.m. Rhodes will play again Wednesday in Clearwater, Fla., against Franklin & Marshall.

GAME NOTES
• Monday was the first ever meeting between Babson and Rhodes.
• The green and white reached the 20-goal mark for the first time this season after reaching the milestone four times in five games last April.
• The Beavers are 14-1 since the start of last season and 44-3 since 2018 when scoring at least 12 goals.
• Jayne extended his point streak to 32 games since the start of last season.