BABSON PARK, Mass—First-year Alexander Yablonovskiy (Berkeley Heights, N.J.) scored twice early in the second half to help No. 8 Babson College defeat visiting MIT, 2-0, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) men's soccer action on Saturday afternoon at Hartwell-Rogers Field. 

Babson, which is unbeaten over its last eight matches, improves to 10-3-4 overall and 5-0-1 in conference play. MIT suffered just its second loss over the last eight games to drop to 6-5-2 overall and 4-1-1 in the NEWMAC. 

Sophomore Robin Pestka (Highland Park, N.J.) registered an assist and junior goalkeeper Walker White (Coral Gables, Fla.) finished with four saves to record his 10th shutout of the year for the Beavers. 

First-year Hernando Ardila (Miramar, Fla.) stopped five shots and suffered his first loss of the year for MIT. 

Following a scoreless first half, Yablonovskiy broke the deadlock less than four minutes into the second. After shielding a long pass by junior Matias Gutierrez (Coral Gables, Fla.) from a defender, he cut back inside and past another defender before drilling a shot past Ardila and inside the left post for a 1-0 lead. 

Yablonovskiy completed his brace in the 63rd minute when he put away a header after Pestka's 22-yard free kick rang off the crossbar for his third goal of the season. 

White, who stopped two shots in the first half, came up with two big saves over the final 45 minutes for Babson. He fully extended going to his right to just get a hand on senior Billy Menken's (Woodbury, Minn.) shot from the penalty spot in the 55th minute before classmate Garrett Robinson (Winfield, Ill.) sent the rebound attempt wide, and then reacted quickly to deny first-year Nico Mangiafico (Farmington, Conn.) at the right post after he collected a loose ball off a deflection in the 76th minute. 

The best scoring chance for either side in the first half came in the 18th minute when Beavers' senior Louis Gazo (Colchester, Vt.) ran onto a pass in the midfield and tried to chip a shot from 40 yards out that skipped once in the box and hit the post before Ardila, who got caught off his line, could recover to grab it. 

The Green and White finished with a 23-12 advantage in shots and a slim 4-3 edge in corner kicks. 

Both teams return to action on Wednesday as Babson travels to Clark at 5 p.m., while MIT hosts WPI at 4 p.m. 

GAME NOTES
•    The Beavers are 42-10-6 all-time against MIT and have won three straight games in the series. 
•    Babson has now outscored its opponents 19-6 in the second half this season. 
•    The Green and White is unbeaten in 18 straight games against NEWMAC foes since suffering a 1-0 loss to MIT on October 23, 2021. 
•    The Beavers are now 33-0-2 when scoring the opening goal of the match since the start of the 2021 campaign.