BABSON PARK, Mass. –
In a tight battle with the #14 ranked Beavers of Babson College, Coast Guard fell by a score of 16-14. Babson will now face the MIT Engineers in the championship game on Saturday.
The Bears and Beavers started off dead even, tied 5-5 after a quarter of play. To start the game, CGA jumped out 2-0 with
Caitlyn Coates(Hanover, PA) and
Laine Weber(Granite Bay, CA) scoring goals. Both Coates and Weber gave outstanding performances all game long in their final career games. After Babson scored their first goal, Weber again came up huge to extend the Bear lead to two again. Babson scored four unanswered to take a two goal lead of their own before Coates stopped the bleeding with an unassisted goal to cut the Beaver lead to one. With under a minute to go in the quarter, freshman sensation
Ella Campbell(Foxborough, MA) caused a Babson turnover which fellow freshman from the Bay State
Rileigh Leary(Holden, MA) parlayed into a game tying goal with under 10 seconds to go.
Much like the first, the second quarter was a back-and-forth affair. After five minutes of scoreless play, it was again the clutch play of
Laine Weber to retake the lead. Assisting Weber on the goal was
Abby McAllister(Pleasantville, NY) who became the first woman in CGA history to reach 100 career assists. Three minutes later, the Bears tied their largest lead of the game when
Aislinn Murray(Annapolis, MD) found the back of the net. Babson scored two straight in the coming minutes and the game appeared poised to head to halftime tied, but much like Leary scoring in the final seconds of quarter one for the Bears, Babson scored with under 10 seconds remaining in the second.
In the second half, the Babson firepower on offense, and rock solid defense became too much for Coast Guard to handle. Babson scored two quickly to start the half before
Hannah Warnke(Lincoln, NE) stopped the run with an unassisted goal. The next six minutes would go scoreless but at the six minute mark the Beaver offense woke up in a big way, scoring three goals in less than a minute to open up their largest lead of the day. On a give and go late in the third,
Katharine Rott(Severna Park, MD) found Coates for her third goal of the game to keep the game within reach heading to the last quarter.
In the fourth, the Bears showed incredible fight, refusing to let Babson get up comfortably. Even trailing by five with under five minutes to go, they kept fighting back.
Caitlyn Coates cut the deficit to four with her 50th goal of the season at the 4:47 mark before McAllister converted on a free-position shot just over a minute later. After Babson scored a free-position of their own,
Aislinn Murray again cut the deficit to three. With under a minute to go,
Laine Weber scored her fourth goal of the game with a man-down goal to give the Bears a fighting chance. Babson however won the subsequent draw control and were able to run out the clock to clinch their birth in the NEWMAC Championship.
The semifinal loss concludes the Bears successful season with a final record of 10-6.
