BABSON PARK, Mass—Senior
Louis Gazo (Colchester, Vt.) finished with a goal and an assist to help Babson College defeat WPI, 3-1, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) men's soccer action on Saturday afternoon at Hartwell-Rogers Field.
With its second consecutive win, Babson improves to 4-2-1 overall and 1-0-0 in league play while extending its conference winning streak to 13 matches. WPI, which is winless over its last three games, dips to 1-2-3 overall and 0-1-0 in the NEWMAC.
First-years
Alex Yablonovskiy's (Berkeley Heights, N.J.) and
Will Lloyd (Lexington, Mass.) both scored and senior
Ryan Kim (San Ramon, Calif.) and first-year
McKenzy Pierre (West Orange, N.J.) collected assists for the Beavers. Junior goalkeeper
Walker White (Coral Gables, Fla.) made three saves in the win.
Junior Matthew Biando (Atlanta, Ga.) had a goal and senior goalkeeper Ryan Martin (Douglas, Mass.) turned away seven shots in defeat.
Martin denied graduate student
Sam Morgan's (Charles Town, W. Va.) penalty kick in the 11th minute and WPI opened the scoring at the 13:34 mark on Biando's second goal of the season. The Green and White was unable to clear sophomore Tora Ito's (Hopkinton, Mass.) corner kick and Biando drilled a low strike from 25 yards inside the right post for a 1-0 lead.
The Beavers leveled the match less than four minutes later though as the Engineers were whistled for their second hand ball of the day in the box when Yablonovskiy's shot went off the arm of a defender. Gazo calmly stepped up and buried the ensuing penalty for his first goal of the year.
Martin extended to push away a header by Yablonovskiy that was headed into the upper corner in the 24th minute, while White extended to push away graduate student Luke Savoie's (Mansfield, Mass.) bending shot from just inside the top of the box in the 28th minute. After successfully defending nine corner WPI corner kicks over the first 50 minutes of the match, Babson took the lead on their only corner of the day just shy of the hour mark.
Kim's service found Gazo at the back post and he headed back in front of goal for Yablonovskiy to touch home for his first career marker and a 2-1 edge. The Green and tacked on an insurance goal in the 79th minute as Lloyd collected a pass from Pierre and found the upper right corner from the top of the box for his first career tally.
The Engineers had a chance to cut their deficit to one late in the match but graduate student Francesco Valagussa's (Arlington, Mass.) penalty kick hit off the outside of the left post.
The Beavers finished with a 17-16 edge in shots while WPI attempted 10 of the game's 11 corners.
Babson returns to action on Sunday when it hosts Eastern Connecticut State at 2 p.m., while the Engineers travel to Amherst on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are now 42-9-5 all-time against WPI and are unbeaten in five straight matches between the sides.
• Babson has won 11 straight games at Hartwell-Rogers Field and is unbeaten in 12 consecutive contests overall at home.
• Biando's goal was the first allowed at home in almost 927 minutes dating back to October 1 of last season.
• The Green and White has won 20 straight games when scoring at least twice.