CAMBRIDGE, Mass.— Senior Ross Shellow (Miami, Fla.) scored the only goal of the game in the 75th minute and No. 18/22 Babson College held on for a 1-0 victory over rival MIT Saturday afternoon in a battle of the top two New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMCAA) men's soccer teams at Roberts Field.

With the win, Babson improves to 11-3-2 overall and 6-0-0 in the NEWMAC to clinch its first NEWMAC regular season title since 2019. MIT drops to 8-7 overall and 4-2 in conference play.

Shellow tallied his third goal of the season while graduate student Ben Williams (Scarborough, Ontario) assisted on the game-winner. Sophomore keeper Walker White (Coral Gables, Fla.) made five saves for his second straight shutout and fifth clean sheet this season.

Senior Paarth Desai (Lawrenceville, Ga.) made four saves in goal for MIT in the loss.

After a scoreless first half that saw Babson outshoot the hosts, 6-4, the Beavers finally broke through on a transition play. Senior Mitchell Collins (Burlington, Mass.) sent Williams in on a breakaway with a through ball but an aggressive Desai denied Williams from point blank range. Williams went to the right side to gather the rebound and passed back to Shellow in the slot, who tapped the ball into the left side of the empty net.

That proved to be the difference in the game. MIT outshot the visitors 8-4 in the second half to finish with a 12-10 advantage for the game. Babson had a 7-4 margin in corner kicks.

Babson wraps up the regular season with two games next week at Hartwell-Rogers Field, a non-conference affair Tuesday at 3 p.m. against Bridgewater State and a NEWMAC contest Saturday at 1 p.m. vs. Springfield. The Engineers wind up their season next Saturday at 1 p.m. at WPI.

The Beavers will be the top seed in the NEWMAC Tournament the first week in November.

GAME NOTES
• Babson is 40-10-6 all-time against MIT in a series that dates back to 1976, with 11 of the last 13 matches between the two sides being decided by a single goal or ending in a draw.
• The Beavers captured at least a share of the NEWMAC regular season crown for the third time in the last four seasons and fourth time in the last six years. The Green and White have won or shared a record 12 regular season titles.
• With Saturday's win, the Beavers have won their last nine games against conference opponents dating back to the regular season loss to MIT last year and are 25-2-6 against NEWMAC foes since the beginning of the 2018 campaign.
• Babson is 10-0 this season and 21-0-1 dating back to last year when scoring the first goal of the game.