BRISTOL, R.I.— Graduate student Lee Sipes (Windham, N.H.) tallied three goals and an assist and sophomore Jacob Tauss (San Marcos, Calif.) scored times as Babson College defeated Roger Williams University, 12-6, in the men's lacrosse season opener for both teams on Saturday afternoon at Bayside Field.

With the victory, Babson opens the season at 1-0 for the sixth year in a row, while Roger Williams (0-1) dropped its season opener the sixth time in the last eight seasons.

Sophomore Topher Bower (Chicago, Ill.) also notched two goals and an assist for the Beavers and junior Matt Stucchi (Rexford, N.Y.) scored twice. Sophomore Alex Fairman (Fayetteville, Ark.) was good for a goal and two assists and senior Peter Chisholm (Westford, Mass.) scored once.

Sophomore Grey Sunderland (Bellevue, Wash.) won 14-of-18 face-offs for Babson and picked up a team-high eight ground balls. Junior Kyle Sanborn (Brookfield, Conn.) collected five ground balls, and seniors Mac Mowat (Bellevue, Wash.) Austin O'Brien (Boston, Mass.) each made four saves in the win.

First-year Jack Kester (Londonderry, N.H.) and senior Ryan Phillips (Hanover, Mass.) scored two goals for the Hawks, graduate student Tim Mullane (Hanover, Mass.) and sophomore Brian Gazard (Ashland, Mass.) scored once each and junior Noah Ravas (Baldwinsville, N.Y.) collected two assists. Phillips and sophomore Brian Cumming (East Williston, N.Y.) shared team-high honors with three ground balls apiece, and junior Duncan Gillis (Duxbury, Mass.) made 16 saves in the setback.

The teams went scoreless for the first 12 and a half minutes of the game until Tauss broke the drought for Babson with his first career goal from the right side. Kester answered for Roger Williams less than a minute later to even the score at 1-1 after the first quarter.

Stucchi fired in a man-up goal early in the second quarter on a feed from Fairman to put Babson ahead and Tauss and Chisholm tallied back-to-back goals 20 seconds apart midway through the frame to extend the margin to 4-1. Fairman and Bower did the same less than a minute apart as the Beaver lead moved to 6-1 in less than a three-minute span, and the visitors took the five-goal lead into the break.

The Beavers opened the third quarter with a pair of goals by Bower and Stucchi to push the lead to 8-1. RWU staged a rally as Kester, Phillips and Mullane scored three of the next four goals to slice the deficit to 9-4 heading into the fourth quarter.

Phillips scored again early in the fourth as the Hawks got as close 9-5, but Babson rattled off three straight, including two by Sipes and one by Tauss, to pull ahead 12-5 with less than three minutes to go. Gazard tacked on a man-up goal for RWU with 1:18 remaining to account for the final margin.

Babson finished with a 55-17 advantage in shots, picked up more ground balls by a 37-22 count, and won 16-of-20 face-offs. The Beavers were successful on 17-of-21 clear attempts while the Hawks were good on 22 of 24 clears.

The Beavers return home to host Bates at MacDowell Field for their home opener on Wednesday, February 23, at 4 p.m. Roger Williams is home again on Wednesday, hosting in-state rival Johnson & Wales at 4 p.m.

GAME NOTES
• Babson is 12-1 all-time against Roger Williams in a series that dates back to 1990.
• The Beavers have won the last six meetings between the teams dating back to 2015.
• The Beavers have also won 16 straight contests when allowing eight goals or fewer going back to the start of the 2018-19 campaign.