NORTON, Mass.—Graduate student Ben Williams (Scarborough, Ontario) and senior Samuel Smith (Farmington, Maine) scored two goals each to lead No. 22 Babson College past Wheaton College, 5-0, in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) men's soccer opener for both schools Saturday afternoon at Keefe Field.

With the win, Babson improves to 4-1-1 overall and 1-0-0 in the NEWMAC while Wheaton drops to 4-2-1 overall and 0-1 in conference play.

Williams also had an assist for the Beavers, sophomore Louis Gazo (Colchester, Vt.) contributed a goal and an assist, and grad student Ryan Goss (Glastonbury, Conn.) and junior Liam Rhatigan (Holderness, N.H.) collected two assists each in the win. Sophomore Walker White (Coral Gables, Fla.) and first-year Derek Polanco (Verona, N.J.) combined efforts for the clean sheet in the Beaver goal, White making three saves in 68 minutes and Polanco turning away one shot in his 22 minutes between the pipes.

Senior Cam Millington (Fairfield, Conn.) made four saves in the Wheaton goal in the setback.

The Beavers took a 2-0 lead with back-to-back goals by Williams in the 19th and 20th minutes. The Beaver forward knocked in a header inside the back post on a corner kick from Goss for the first goal, and then struck again after gaining possession off a deflection of a through ball and buried a shot low inside the right post past a charging keeper. Williams now has a team-high four goals and an assist this season.

The Green and White tacked on one more goal just before the intermission when Rhatigan played the ball into space inside the left side of box for Smith, who took a touch and finished past the keeper inside the far post.

The visitors extended the margin in the 51st minute when Williams gained possession of a loose ball in the box, played a low service across the 6-yard box, and Gazo stepped in front of a defender to touch it home. The Green and White finished off the scoring in the 65th minute when Goss sent a corner kick to the near post, Rhatigan flicked the ball in front with his back heel and Smith punched it home from in front of goal. Smith has scored three goals in just two games this season.

Babson finished with an 14-10 advantage in shots while Wheaton had a 10-4 margin in corner kicks.

The Beavers return home to host second-ranked Amherst Tuesday at 4 p.m. in a rematch of last year's NCAA Tournament second-round contest. Wheaton is home again on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. against No. 15 Brandeis.

GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are now 23-20-0 against Wheaton all-time going back to 1990.
• Babson has won the last seven contests between the two schools, although Saturday's outcome was the first of the last six that wasn't decided by just one or two goals.
• Saturday's win was the largest margin of victory since the Beavers downed Bridgewater State by the same score back on October 30, 2019.
• The Green and White have captured 11 straight road games vs. conference opponents and are unbeaten in last 13 vs. NEWMAC opponents since 2018.
• Babson has won its last 11 games when scoring at least two goals dating back to last season. The Green and White are 45-3 since the start of 2016 when scoring at least twice.