BOSTON—Senior Justin Laurenzo (Park Ridge, N.J.) scored twice in the second half as visiting Babson College earned a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Emerson College in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) men's soccer action on Saturday afternoon at Rotch Field.

With its seventh win in the last eight games, Babson concludes the regular season at 14-5 overall and 4-3 in the NEWMAC, and will be the fourth seed in next week's conference tournament. Emerson sees its year come to a close at 6-8-4 overall and 0-6-1 in league play.

The Lions outshot the Beavers 9-4 in the opening 45 minutes, but the sides were deadlocked at 0-0 at the half. Babson junior goalkeeper Stephen Donato (Morganville, N.J.) made three first-half saves, and classmate Andrew Gonzalez (Durham, Conn.) had his scoring attempt in the 39th minute saved off the goal line by an Emerson defender.

After pressuring for much of the second half, the Green and White finally broke through for a pair of goals in a span of just over 10 minutes late in the stanza. Laurenzo notched his 11th marker of the year in the 71st minute, putting in a corner kick from junior Tyler Carlos (Prospect, Conn.) into the upper corner for a 1-0 lead.

The Beavers then struck again in the 82nd minute as Carlos fed Gonzalez, who hit a perfect service into the box for Laurenzo, who one-touched into the upper corner for a two-goal advantage.

The Lions cut the deficit in half in the 86th minute on junior Jeremy Leder's (Dix Hills, N.Y.) second marker of the season. The Babson defense did not allow another shot though, securing its ninth one-goal victory of the year.

Donato matched his career high with six saves for the Green and White, while first-year goalkeeper Henri Fischer (Atlanta, Ga.) turned away three shots for Emerson.

The Lions held a 19-14 edge in shots, while both teams attempted six corner kicks.

Babson, which is ranked sixth in New England by the NCAA, will host either MIT or Springfield College in a NEWMAC Tournament quarterfinal match on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m.

GAME NOTES: The Beavers are now 2-0 all-time against Emerson…Laurenzo, who has seven game-winning goals on the season, is tied for 10th all-time with 24 career goals and tied for 13th on the program's career scoring list with 58 points…Carlos, who is second on the team in scoring, has three goals and three assists in his last four matches…Babson is 12-2-0 this fall when scoring first and 13-0-0 when holding its opponent to one goal or less…the Beavers are 9-2-0 in games decided by a single goal.