10/27/2007
NEWMAC Tournament
Women's Soccer Ties Up Babson College; Babson Advances in PK's

BABSON PARK, Mass. - Clark University and Babson College played to a 1-1 double-overtime tie in the quarterfinal round of the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament. However, Babson moved on to the semifinals with a 4-3 penalty kick advantage.

First-year goalie Sarah Macary (Woodbury, Conn.) made a huge save on a penalty kick and sophomore Sam Bartman (Upton, Mass) converted her attempt just moments later to send the third-seeded Beavers past sixth-seeded Clark University in the NEWMAC Tourney.

Babson (10-6-2) dominated play in regulation, outshooting Clark (7-8-3) by a count of 21-2. However, it would be the Cougars who struck first, as junior Julia Rizzo (Westboro, Mass.) hit a cross from the right corner to first-year Julie Murray (Millbury, Mass.), who headed a shot from the left side of the box into an open net at 18:25.

The Beavers' best chance in the opening half came just before the Cougars' goal, as senior Callie Pilling (Dalton, Mass.) one-timed a shot from the top of the box at the 17-minute mark. However, sophomore goalie Joanna Clark (Windham, Maine) made a spectacular leaping save, tipping the ball off the crossbar to keep Babson off the board. The home team then had another great opportunity at the end of the half, but sophomore Jacky Mozzicato's (Acton, Mass.) rocket from midfield sailed just over the crossbar with three seconds remaining.

Babson finally tied the game at 1-1 midway through the second half, as senior Nikki Stier (Deerfield, Mass.) hit a shot out of a scramble in front that hit the left post. The rebound then kicked out to first-year Ellen McCurdy (Weston, Mass.), who hammered it in from close range to even the contest at 68:34.

After registering just one shot in the first overtime, Babson fired four attemps in the second OT session, including two excellent opportunities in the closing moments. Sophomore Kayla Pomponi (Belmont, Mass.) nearly won it with a shot that floated just over the crossbar with two minutes left, and senior captain Meg Lynch's (Holden, Mass.) header off a corner kick also went high on the final shot of the game with 20 ticks remaining.

First-year Kristy Benoit (Shrewsbury, Mass.) made Babson's only official save while playing 86 minutes in net, while Clark finished with six official stops in goal for the Cougars.

After replacing Benoit with 11 seconds left in the second overtime, Macary handled the goalkeeping duties for the Beavers during the shootout. Senior Liz Adamcik (Florence, Mass.) converted her first attempt for Clark, but junior Jackie Graham (Winchester, Mass.) answered with a score for Babson. Junior Kari Mruz (Hingham, Mass.) then struck again for the Cougars before both teams missed wide on their next attempts.

With her team trailing in PKs, 2-1, Pilling blasted a shot off Clark's outreached hand and into the lower left corner to even things at 2-2. However, the Cougars came right back with a conversion by Rizzo to put the visitors back in front.

Lynch tucked Babson's next PK into the lower left corner, evening the score at 3-3 with one kick remaining for each team. Sophomore Lauren King (Piscataway, N.J.) then hit Clark's final bid toward the lower left corner, but Macary made a spectacular one-handed diving save to her right to push the ball outside the post. Bartman then sealed the PK victory for Babson, as she pushed her attempt into the lower right corner.

It was the Beavers' third consecutive NEWMAC Tournament game to go to penalty kicks. Babson advanced on PKs after tying MIT in the quartefinals last year before getting ousted in kicks following a 2-2 tie against Wheaton in the semifinals.

Babson will now head to Wheaton for next weekend's semifinal round, where the Beavers will take on seventh-seeded Wellesley. The Blue also advanced on PKs after tying #2 Springfield, 3-3.

(Courtesy of Babson College Sports Information)