BABSON PARK, Mass.—First-year Austin Fabel (East Rockaway, N.Y.) finished with a goal and four assists, while classmate Jordan Shapiro (Pleasantville, N.Y.) turned away 11 shots as top-seeded Babson College defeated fourth-seeded Wheaton College, 11-5, in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) men's lacrosse tournament semifinal on Wednesday night at MacDowell Field.

With its sixth consecutive victory, Babson (11-6) advances to the conference title game for the third straight season, while Wheaton concludes its season at 10-7 overall.

Junior John Harrison (Pembroke, Mass.) scored three times and classmate Spencer Low (Natick, Mass.) added two goals and one assist to lead the Beavers. Senior Kyle Barsalou (Longmeadow, Mass.) chipped in with a goal and an assist, while classmate Phil Russo (Middleton, Mass.) won 11-of-16 face-offs and led all players with nine ground balls. Fellow senior Christian Cattaruzza (Guilford, Conn.) contributed five ground balls and a game-high five caused turnovers in the win.

Senior Matthew Hillman (Brookline, Mass.) scored twice and collected five ground balls to lead the Lyons in his final collegiate game. Sophomore Will Morrison (Osterville, Mass.) finished with a goal and an assist, while classmate Ryan Gjerset (Austin, Texas) scored once and scooped up five ground balls in the loss.

The Green and White started fast, building a 4-0 lead after one quarter. Junior Scott Doten (Western Springs, Ill.) scored 48 seconds into the game, while Harrison and Low each followed with markers to take a three-goal at the 9:49 mark. Junior Brendan Coan (Towson, Md.)  extended the lead with 4:11 left in the stanza, but junior goalkeeper Ryan Clair (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) kept Wheaton in the game with five first-quarter saves.

The Lyons got on the board 4:26 into the second quarter on a goal by first-year Griffin Phaneuf (Manchester, N.H.) and then pulled within 4-2 on Gjerset's 15th tally of the year with 8:14 to go in the frame. The Beavers responded though, scoring three straight goals, all of which were set up by Fabel, to close the opening half.

Junior Matthew Logan (Downingtown, Pa.) scored following a turnover with 4:48 left in the stanza, and first-year Axel Brown (Little Compton, R.I.) pushed the lead to 6-2 at the 2:25 mark. Harrison then converted Fabel's centering pass from behind the cage while going to the ground less than a minute later to give Babson a 7-2 lead at the break.

Wheaton outshot the Beavers 18-7 in the third quarter, but Shapiro stopped four of the six shots on goal to help the hosts maintain their cushion. Barsalou scored off a feed from Fabel to give the Green and White its biggest lead of the night at 8-2 with 8:19 left in the frame. Morrison notched his 39th marker of the year 56 seconds later, and then set up Hillman's man-up tally to get the Lyons within 8-4 at the 4:31 mark.

Babson quickly regained momentum though, as Russo won the ensuing face-off and Fabel whipped a shot past Clair to push the lead back to five just 15 seconds later. Low then took a feed down low and beat the third quarter horn to make it 10-4 going to the fourth.

Hillman cut the deficit to five with 12:31 left, but Wheaton was unable to draw closer as it committed eight turnovers and put just three of its 11 shots on goal over the final 15 minutes. Harrison completed his hat trick on a transition goal with just over three minutes remaining for the final margin.

Shapiro made of eight of his 11 saves in the middle quarters for the Green and White, while Clair came up with 11 of his 14 saves before halftime.

The Beavers won 13-of-18 face-offs, went 21-of-23 on its clear opportunities, and held a 47-39 edge in ground balls.

The Lyons held a 47-37 edge in shots and scored the only man-up goal of the game.

Babson will return to action on Saturday when it hosts second-seeded Springfield in the NEWMAC championship at 1 p.m.

GAME NOTES: Babson, which has now faced Wheaton in five of the last six NEWMAC Tournaments, is 4-3 all-time in the conference playoffs against the Lyons…the Beavers are now 9-0 this season and have won 19 straight games overall when leading at halftime…Babson is 10-1 on the year when scoring 10 goals or more…the Beavers have won six straight home playoff games going back to 2001…with one goal in the win, Logan has now scored in nine consecutive contests going back to March 28…Low, who leads the Green and White with 28 markers, has produced five straight multi-goal games.