SPRINGFIELD, Mass.—Senior Chi Chi Price (Hingham, Mass.) scored three of his game-high five goals in the first quarter as Babson College built a 6-1 lead after one and a 12-2 margin by halftime on the way to a 17-11 victory over Western New England University Sunday afternoon in non-conference men's lacrosse action at Golden Bear Stadium.

Babson won its second straight contest to improve to 3-1 on the season while Western New England, which finished 15-6 a year ago after advancing to the third round of the NCAA Tournament, dropped its third straight and fell to 1-3.

Graduate student Ryan Kenney (Hingham, Mass.) scored four goals and added an assist for the Beavers, senior Matt Stucchi (Rexford, N.Y.) tallied three goals in his first appearance of the season, graduate student Will Spangenberg (Dover, Mass.) chipped in with two goals and junior Topher Bower (Chicago, Ill.) collected four assists. Junior Grey Sunderland (Bellevue, Wash.) picked up a game-high nine ground balls, and senior Will Parducci (Manhattan Beach, Calif) made a career-high 18 saves in goal in the victory.

Graduate student Mike Bannon (Edmond, Okla.) led the Golden Bears with four goals and an assist, senior Dylan Hanley (New Fairfield, Conn.) contributed two goals and two assists, and sophomore Zachary Mein (Latham, N.Y.) added two goals and one assist in the loss. First-year Chris Catuosco (Commack, N.Y.) won 11 of 17 faceoffs and scooped up seven ground balls and sophomore Jonathon Salsbury (Bel Air, Md.) finished with 10 saves in goal.

After Mein gave the hosts a 1-0 lead two minutes into the game, Babson scored 12 consecutive goals over the next 25 minutes, one in each quarter, to take command of the contest. Price connected on three in the first quarter, Stucchi pumped in two and Kenney added one to make it 6-1 after one, and Spangenberg, junior Connor Karsh (Glenview, Ill.), Kenney, first-year Bennett Smith (Lake Oswego, Ore.), sophomore Riley Shaw (Duluth, Ga.) and Price piled on goals in the second frame to extend the margin to 12-1. Hanley scored a man-up goal for the Golden Bears with 30 seconds to go in the half to break the drought as the teams went into the break with Babson up 12-2.

WNEU scored two of the first three goals in the third quarter, but Kenney, Stucchi and Spangenberg answered for Babson to make it 16-4 after three. The Golden Bears came alive with six unanswered goals in the fourth quarter but the deficit was too large to overcome. Price added a final Babson goal with 4:34 remaining and Bannon closed out the scoring in the final minute.

The Green and White had a 46-38 advantage in shots while the hosts won the ground ball battle 32-29 and garnered 18 of the 31 faceoffs. Babson was successful on 18 of 20 clear attempts while holding WNEU to 16 of 23.

The Beavers will open their 2023 New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) slate on Saturday, March 18, with a visit to Coast Guard for a 1 p.m. matchup. WNEU looks to get on track Tuesday against No. 14 USILA/10 Inside Lacrosse Bowdoin at 6:30 p.m. in Tampa, Fla.

GAME NOTES
• Babson is 13-14 all-time against Western New England in a series that dates back to 1987, although Sunday's meeting was the first since 2007. It was the Beavers' first win in the series since 2001.
• The Beavers have scored at least 17 goals in back-to-back games for the first time a 20-2 win over Wheaton and a 21-5 victory over Emerson on April 10 and 17, 2021.
• Stucchi has recorded at least one point in 18 consecutive games dating back to the beginning of last season.
• The Green and White are 16-1 since the start of the 2020 campaign when leading at halftime.