BABSON PARK, Mass.—First-year Justin Kaplan (Medway, Mass.) and sophomore Telvin Lopes (Pawtucket, R.I.) each scored first-half goals as the Babson College men's soccer team cruised past St. Joseph's College, 3-1, in the season opener for both teams on Friday afternoon at Hartwell-Rogers Field.

Kaplan got the scoring started in his collegiate debut, converting a feed from junior James Rosso (Hingham, Mass.) following a free kick for a 1-0 lead just 15:54 into the contest. Kaplan then created the Beavers' second goal nearly 12 minutes later, serving a cross into the box that was headed past Monks' junior goalkeeper Scott Benner (Post Falls, Idaho) by a defender for a two-goal lead at the 28:40 mark.

Lopes, who has now scored in the season opener in three consecutive seasons, made it 3-0 in the 37th minute, pushing the ball past Benner on a breakaway to give the Green and White a commanding 3-0 lead. Babson outshot the visitors 11-1 and attempted five corner kicks in a dominating first-half effort.

The Monks avoided the shutout by taking advantage of their only corner kick after halftime to get on the board with 8:19 remaining. Sophomore Nicholas Borowski (Webster, Mass.) headed home a corner kick from sophomore Jack Murray (Hingham, Mass.), cutting the Beavers' lead to 3-1.

Junior goalkeeper Tanner Click (Lawrence, Kan.), making just his second career start, stopped one shot to earn his first career victory for the Green and White. Benner came up with five saves for St. Joseph's, which was outshot 19-7 on the afternoon.

Both teams return to action on Saturday afternoon as Babson hosts Illinois Wesleyan University at 2 p.m., while St. Joseph's travels to Wheaton College at 3 p.m.

GAME NOTES: Friday's contest marked the first meeting between the Beavers and Monks…Babson is now 12-3-2 in home openers going back to 1998 and has collected a victory in its first home game in each of the last three seasons…since the start of the 2010 season, the Beavers are 35-9-4 at Hartwell-Rogers Field.