With just 24 seconds left in regulation, Grace Keefe found the back of the cage to lift the #1 Middlebury field hockey team past #4 Babson. 
 
HIGHLIGHTS

• The Panthers pushed the envelope early in the opening quarter. Amy Griffin fired a shot that bounced off the right post behind Babson goalie Bayla Furmanek, but the ball swung back into play. 
• Middlebury continued the pressure with consecutive penalty corners, but Furmanek stood tall with a kick save, while a blocked shot by a Beaver defender kept the contest scoreless.
• Babson opened the scoring at the 4:08 mark. Caroline DiGiovanni worked the ball around the circle after a penalty corner and fired a shot toward a cluster of players. Katie Guden poked her stick out and tapped the ball past a diving Izzy Redzic and into the bottom right corner for the 1-0 advantage. 
• Middlebury had a great chance to tie the game with 12:52 elapsed. Caroline Segal slid in a pass to Griffin who went around a Beaver defender and shot towards the bottom right post. Caroline Haggerty tried to redirect the chance, but Furmanek kicked the ball out of harm's way to preserve the one-goal edge.
• Babson tested Redzic right out of the gate in the second stanza with back-to-back shots off a penalty corner. Redzic stood up to the challenge, denying the first chance with her chest before stopping a rebound from Guden to keep the deficit at one.
• As the Beavers were coming out of their defensive position, Segal cut through two defenders and found Georgianne Defeo near the center of the field. Defeo blitzed down the right and tucked her shot into the bottom left corner to deadlock the contest (1-1) with nearly 20 minutes expired. 
• Babson's Penny Baroni had the final opportunity of the half with just under a minute to go,  but her hard blast sailed just high of the goal. 
• Middlebury's initial bid in the third session came from Lilly Branka as she sliced down the Beaver end line and cut inside for an open look. Furmanek kicked Branka's shot aside to keep the Panther offense away. 
• The visitors nearly scored again at the 34:46 mark. Hannah Medwar charged onto the field and stole a cross-field pass before being taken down inside the shooting circle. A penalty stroke was awarded, and Branka stepped onto the dot and fired near the top-left corner. Furmanek stood her ground with a beautiful diving save to keep the game tied. 
• Middlebury continued to test Furmanek at the 50:48 mark. Claire McMichael tightroped the end line and fired low, but the shot bounced off the Babson goalie and sailed out of play.
• The Beavers produced their first chance of the half with nearly five minutes left in regulation. Helen DiGiovanni attempted to slip the ball past Redzic on the doorstep, but the goaltender thwarted the change with her pad.
• The Panthers tallied the golden goal with just 24 ticks left on the clock. Segal inserted a penalty corner that was stopped by Griffin, who worked it around to Keefe shaded to her left. Keefe took a step to the right and blasted the ball into the goal for her second tally of the season to push the Panthers to 4-0 on the year. 

NOTES

• Segal's 27th career assist moves her into seventh place in program history.
• Keefe's game-winner was her fifth career goal.
• With the triumph, Middlebury improves to 11-1 against Babson, having won eight-straight meetings. 

The Panthers jump back into conference play with a NESCAC weekend road trip. Middlebury takes on #11 Amherst on Saturday at 11:00 a.m., before heading to Connecticut to battle #15 Wesleyan on Sunday at 12:00 p.m.