SCHENECTADY, N.Y.—Senior Justin Greene (Norwell, Mass.) scored a game-high five goals, including back-to-back strikes late in the fourth quarter, and No. 11/13 Union College held on to defeat No. 20/20 Babson College, 14-13, in a tight battle of nationally-ranked men's lacrosse teams Sunday afternoon at Frank Bailey Field.

With the outcome, Babson falls to 1-1 on the season while Union, which was playing its season opener, starts off at 1-0.

First-year Seamus Rooney (Bay Shore, N.Y.) led the Beavers with four goals and an assist, while sophomore Luke D'Orsi (Jamestown, R.I.) tallied three goals and senior Jacob Tauss (San Marcos, Calif.) scored twice. Senior Connor Karsh (Glenview, Ill.) and sophomore Bennett Smith (Lake Oswego, Ore.) registered a goal and an assist each and graduate student Jared Rainville (Watertown, Conn.) and senior Christian Brofft (Pottstown, Pa.) finished with one goal apiece.

Junior Gavin Bailey (Hinsdale, Ill.) led the Beaver defense with three caused turnovers and five ground balls, and senior Dillon Quinn (Spring Lake, N.J.) added four ground balls. Junior goalie Alex Fascilla (Huntington, N.Y.) came off the bench and made nine saves in 51-plus minutes of work.

Senior Michael Shaw (Canton, Mass.) led all players with seven points on four goals and three assists for the Dutchmen. Classmate Zach Davis (Deerfield, Mass.) scored two goals and added an assist, fellow senior Jake Mabardy (Winchester, Mass.) and junior Archie McEvoy (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) chipped in with a goal and an assist each, and sophomore Emmett Lyne (Wellesley, Mass.) had one goal. Senior Matthew Paolatto (Sherborn, Mass.) won 19-of-29 faceoffs and scooped up a game-high 10 ground balls, and classmate Dan Donahue (Weston, Mass.) made 11 saves in goal in the victory.

Babson took an early 2-1 lead on back-to-back goals by Karsh and Smith just six minutes in, but Union answered with four unanswered goals, sparked by a man-up goal by Lyne and a goal and two assists from Shaw. Ronney potted his first goal of the game for Babson to cut the margin to 5-3 after one frame.

Greene and Shaw scored for the Dutchmen to begin a low-scoring second quarter before Karsh set up Tauss for a goal with 5:41 on the clock and Union took a 7-4 lead into the intermission.

The Beavers came out strong in the third quarter with consecutive goals by Rooney, Rainville and Brofft to even the score at 7-all. Union answered with three of the next four goals to regain the lead and take a 10-8 lead into the fourth quarter.

After D'Orsi and Shaw traded early goals 16 seconds apart, Babson rattled off three goals in a row, two by Rooney and one by Tauss, to take its first lead since the first quarter, 12-11 with eight minutes remaining. The Dutchmen answered with three in a row of their own, goals by Greene with 4:42 and 2:29 remaining, and an insurance goal by McEvoy to make it 14-12 with 1:31 on the clock.

Babson would not go quietly, and senior Grey Sunderland (Bellevue, Wash.) won the ensuing face-off and fed D'Orsi for a goal with 1:25 remaining and a one-goal deficit. The Beavers forced a turnover in the final 30 seconds and got one shot off down the stretch but could not produce a game-tying goal.

The hosts finished with a 44-32 advantage in shots and a 41-31 margin in ground balls. Union was 3-for-5 in man-up situations and did not get whistled for any penalties. The Dutchmen benefitted from winning 21 of the 31 faceoffs.

The Beavers are back in action on Saturday at 12 p.m. at No. 20 Williams in a rematch of last year's NCAA Tournament second-round contest. Union travels to Endicott Wednesday for a 4 p.m. contest.

GAME NOTES
• Babson is now 0-15 against Union in a series that dates back to 2009, although two of the last four contests in Schenectady have been one-goal affairs.
• The Beavers lost for just the fourth time in 18 games going back to last season, and eighth time in 37 games dating back to 2020, when scoring at least 10 goals.
• After committing just 13 turnovers, the Green and White is 12-4 over the past three seasons when committing 17 turnovers or less.