BABSON PARK, Mass. – The fifth-seeded Wheaton College (Mass.) women's soccer team was defeated by host number four seed Babson College, 3-1, this afternoon in the Quarterfinals of the New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference Championship Tournament on Hartwell-Rogers Field in Babson Park, Mass. 

The Lyons finish their season with an 8-5-7 record, while the Beavers improve to 8-6-5. Babson advances to the NEWMAC Semifinal match and will take on the winner of top-seeded No. 3 Massachusetts Institute of Technology and number eight seed United States Coast Guard Academy on November 7 in the Semifinal round.

The Beavers held a 22-6 shot advantage, including 11-3 in shots on frame. Babson also owned a 4-1 margin in corner kicks.

Sophomore defender Maya Thomas (Goffstown, N.H.) netted the only goal for Wheaton, while senior forward Elisa Diletizia (Canton, Mass.) scored a pair of goals to lead the Beavers. 

Babson tallied the first marker of the match in the 10th minute for the only score of the half. The teams combined for three second half goals, including the Lyons' only tally of the stanza. 

Wheaton faced a 2-0 deficit late in the second half, before getting on the board to make it 2-1 with 11:40 left to play in the match. Sophomore defender Maya Thomas (Goffstown, N.H.) played give and go with junior forward Julia Sternat (Ellington, Conn.) at the top right corner of the box, before Thomas carried the ball into the box and fired a shot from in front of the right post into the far left corner for her second marker of the year.

The Beavers restored its two-goal advantage with a goal, just 4:10 later, to give the home team a 3-1 cushion. Diletizia was able to slip behind the Lyons' defense and carried the ball down the right side to put herself into a one-on-one situation with the Wheaton keeper, before threading a shot between the near right post and the goalie for her second marker of the day. The goal was her eighth of the season and came with 7:30 left on the second half clock. The score also marked the first time that the Lyons' defense allowed more than two goals in a game since October 6, 2023 – a span of 25 matches.

Babson got on the board just 9:35 into the match when the Lyon keeper came off her line to collect a loose ball in the middle of the box, but first year forward Josie Lee (Duxbury, Mass.) beat her to the ball and unleashed a shot into the right corner for her third goal of the season.

Diletizia scored her first goal of the afternoon in the 61st minute of play to give the Beavers a 2-0 lead. Sophomore back Claudia Baiter (Miami, Fla.) served a ball from behind midfield that landed in the box before Diletizia settled it and ripped a rocket past the Wheaton keeper's dive to her left and into the back of the net.