Women's Lacrosse Dominates No. 16 Bates, 17-6

Recap, photo courtesy of Babson

Lenaghan Matches Career High with Seven Goals as Beavers Post First Win over Nationally-Ranked Foe Since 2010
BABSON PARK, Mass.—Senior Lexi Lenaghan (Hanover, Mass.) tied her career high with seven goals and Babson College won 20-of-25 draw controls on its way to defeating 16th-ranked Bates College, 17-6, in non-conference women's lacrosse action on Wednesday evening at frigid MacDowell Field.

With its first win over a nationally-ranked opponent since 2010, Babson improves to 2-1. Bates, which was coming off a victory over last year's Division III runner-up Middlebury, drops to 3-1.

Lenaghan dished out two assists for a season-high nine points, while senior Riley Buonagurio (Duxbury, Mass.), sophomore Sara O'Connor (Marshfield, Mass.) and first-year Coco Creedon (McKinney, Texas) all scored twice for the Beavers. Junior Taylor Herrmann (Mahwah, N.J.) led all players with three assists, senior Mairead Williams (Hingham, Mass.) scooped up three ground balls, and the sophomore duo of Juliana McGuire (Sparta, N.J.) and Isabelle Lent (Madison, Conn.) finished with eight and seven draw controls, respectively.

Senior Katie Allard (Ridgewood, N.J.) and sophomore Kathryn Grennon (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) both scored twice for the Bobcats. Classmate Avery Prince (Chevy Chase, Md.) led all players with two caused turnovers, while senior Eliza Statile (Ipswich, Mass.) and sophomore Rachael Deptula (Durham, N.H.) combined to make seven saves in the loss.

The Green and White took a 2-0 lead on goals by O'Connor and Creedon less than a minute into the game, and extended its advantage to 4-0 on tallies by Lenaghan and sophomore Sarah McCarthy (Hanover, Mass.) with 23:38 to go in the opening stanza. Grennon got Bates on the board at the 21:09 mark, but Babson ripped off seven consecutive goals, including four by Lenaghan, to push its bulge to 11-1 with just over seven minutes left before halftime.

Allard scored twice during a three-goal run that helped pull the Bobcats within 11-4 at the half, but goals by sophomore Georgia Salvatore (Westwood, Mass.) and Buonagurio quickly pushed the lead back to nine less than five minutes into the second period. Grennon notched her second marker of the game at the 19:14 mark only to see O'Connor and Lenaghan follow with back-to-back tallies as the Beavers pushed their advantage back to 15-5 with 13:22 remaining.

Lenaghan collected her seventh goal and Herrmann buried a free-position chance in the closing minutes for the final margin.

Sophomore Cricket Fligor (Weston, Mass.) matched her season high with 11 saves for the Green and White while giving up just one goal on the Bobcats' seven free-position opportunities.

Both teams return to action on Saturday as Babson hosts Endicott at 1 p.m., while Bates visits No. 12 Wesleyan at 12 p.m.

GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are now 7-18 all-time against Bates and Wednesday's victory was their first in the all-time series since 2013.

• Lenaghan, who has 13 goals and four assists for 17 points in three outings this spring, has recorded 10 consecutive multi-goal games going back to last year.

• Babson, which entered the game having scored just two free-position goals over its first two games, converted 6-of-8 opportunities against the Bobcats.

• The Beavers' last win over a ranked opponent came against then-10th-ranked Williams in the first round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament.