Dubois, Allard lead Panthers in setback

            BABSON PARK, Mass. – Junior Sydney Dubois (Goffstown, N.H.) scored three goals and sophomore Meaghan Allard (Amherst, N.H.) made ten saves, but Plymouth State University fell Babson College, 10-8, in a season-opening women's lacrosse game at MacDowell Field on Sunday afternoon.

            Babson opened with three goals in the opening ten minutes, but PSU answered with a pair of strikes just 30 seconds apart to cut the deficit to 3-2. The hosts answered with two straight goals, including a free position goal with 12 seconds left in the half to take a 5-2 lead into halftime.

            The Panthers opened the second half with back-to-back goals to again cut the margin to one, but Babson scored four of the next five to go up 9-5 with 12:49 remaining. PSU closed with three of the final four goals, but time ran out before Plymouth State could complete the comeback.

            PSU goes to 0-1, while the Beavers move to 1-0.

            The Final Score:

            Plymouth State 8, Babson 10

            Records:

            Plymouth State (0-1)

            Babson (1-0)

            How it Happened:

            * Babson struck first, building a 3-0 lead through the first 9:03 of action.

            * Senior Veronyca Daniels (Concord, N.H.) scored the first goal of the season for the Panthers to with 19:40 left in the first half, and Dubois notched her first of the year off a feed from Daniels just 30 seconds later to cut the margin to 3-2.

            * The Beavers got one back seven minutes later and added a free position goal in the final 12 seconds to head into halftime with a 5-2 advantage.

            * Sophomore Elizabeth McLaughlin (Melvin Village, N.H.) and Dubois tallied unassisted goals to open the second half, pulling the Panthers to within 5-4, but Babson answered with two straight scores.

            * Dubois cashed in another feed from Daniels to make it a 7-5 game, but the hosts tallied two more for a 9-5 lead with 12:49 left to play.

            * Senior Kimberly Zuccaro (Townsend, Mass.) set up junior Sam Fiore (Merrimac, Mass.) with 10:34 left, and Zuccaro added a free position goal to cut the margin to 9-7 with just over five minutes to go.

            * Babson answered to restore the three-goal lead with 4:16 remaining and freshman Hannah Chartier (Weare, N.H.) scored her first collegiate goal to account for the 10-8 final.

            Inside the Numbers:

            * Allard was strong between the pipes, registering ten saves for the Panthers. Her counterpart, sophomore Cricket Fligor (Weston, Mass.), made three saves for Babson.

            * Dubois finished with three goals on seven shots and added three caused turnovers.

            * In typical fashion, Zuccaro did a little of everything finishing with one goal, two assists, four ground balls and three draw controls.

            * Daniels also finished with a goal and two helpers.

            * Allard added four ground balls to her impressive performance in goal.

            * Babson was led by sophomore Georgia Salvatore (Westwood, Mass.) and senior Lexi Lenaghan (Hanover, Mass.), who combined for six goals and three assists.

            Straight from the Coach's Mouth:

            "The team gave a great effort and played hard throughout," said head coach Sandy Bridgeman. "Meaghan [Allard] was strong in goal and Kimberly [Zuccaro] was tireless on the field. Obviously there are a lot of things to work on, but it was a pretty good showing for our first game together against a competitive opponent."

            Up Next:

            * PSU has two weeks to prepare for its next game, a non-conference contest at Bates College on Mar. 10.

            * Babson heads to Skidmore College on Saturday (Mar. 2).

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