BABSON PARK, Mass.—Sophomore Charlie Ackerman (Bradenton, Fla.) scored the go-ahead goal at 14:18 of the second period and senior goaltender Jamie Murray (Scituate, Mass.) made 28 saves as No. 7 USCHO.com/No. 10 D3hockey.com Babson College defeated visiting Castleton University, 4-1, in New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) action on Friday night at the Babson Skating Center.

With the win, Babson is now 12-4-2 overall and 8-2-1 in league play, while Castleton drops to 4-13-1 overall and 3-7-1 in the NEHC.

Sophomore Josh Casper (Lake Forest, Ill.) finished with  goal and an assist, while juniors Dan Casey (Chatham, N.J.) and Tim Searles (Chesapeake, Va.) both scored once for the Beavers. Seniors Max Franklin (Wrentham, Mass.), Phil Saviuk (Pointe-Claire, Quebec) and Mike Vollmin (Wilmington, N.C.), sophomore Rob Devaney (Reading, Mass.) and first-year Matt Brazel (Hingham, Mass.) each chipped in with an assist.

Caleb Fizer (Sarasota, Fla.) scored once and junior Patrick Thornton (Orillia, Ontario) recorded an assist for the Spartans, who got 36 saves from sophomore netminder Ryan Mulder (Ottawa, Ontario).

Both goaltenders made nine first-period stops before Babson jumped on top on Casey's seventh goal of the year at the 19:43 mark. Franklin played a pass through the neutral zone for Casey, who eluded a defender and beat Mulder five-hole for a 1-0 lead going into the first intermission. 

The Beavers were whistled for a penalty just five seconds into the second period, but Murray made a pair of stops, including a left pad save on a redirect by first-year Fabio Klay (Langnau, Switzerland) less than a minute into the stanza. Castleton pulled even with 5:20 gone in the period though, as Thornton found a streaking Fizer with a long outlet pass off the right boards and the first-year forward beat Murray for the first goal of his career to tie the game at 1-1.

Both teams killed off penalties in the middle of the period and Babson regained the lead on Ackerman's team-leading ninth tally of the year at the 14:18 mark. Brazel carried the puck into the zone on the left wing and slide a pass across the ice to Ackerman, who beat Mulder high on the glove side for a 2-1 lead.

Murray was superb in the final period, stopping 12 shots before the Green and White scored a pair of empty net goals in the final two minutes. He made a sprawling save on Spartans' junior Nick Kovalchik (Brownstown, Mich.) a little over five minutes in, denied sophmroe Simon Teodorsson (Taberg, Sweden) at the 7:21 mark and then stuffed senior Derek Gingera (Winnipeg, Manitoba) on a 2-on-1 just 20 seconds later.

Castleton pulled Mulder for an extra attacker with 2:27 to go, but Babson made them pay as Casper flipped the puck out of the defensive zone and into the empty net for his first career goal with 1:52 remaining. Searles then notched his sixth tally of the year 51 seconds later for the final margin.

Both teams return to action on Saturday at 4 p.m. as Babson hosts Skidmore, while Castleton travels to nationally-ranked UMass-Boston.

GAME NOTES
• Babson is now 13-5-3 all-time against Castleton and has won three of the last four against the Spartans over the last two years.
• The Beavers are now 7-0-0 when leading after the first period this season.
• The Green and White is 11-1-1 this season and 45-2-3 since February 10, 2013, when scoring three or more goals.
• Murray improved to 6-1-0 with a 1.29 goals against average and a .957 save percentage in seven career starts against the Spartans.