BABSON PARK, Mass.— Graduate student Jared Rainville (Watertown, Conn.) scored five goals and added an assist and No. 19 Babson College withstood a strong second comeback by Springfield College to capture the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Association (NEWMAC) men's lacrosse opener for both schools, 16-13, Saturday afternoon at MacDowell Field.

With the victory, Babson extended its winning streak to four games and improved to 5-2 overall (1-0 NEWMAC) while Springfield dropped a 0-6 (0-1) on the season with its fourth setback to a nationally ranked team.

Senior Topher Bower (Chicago, Ill.), first-year Luke Wang (Simsbury, Conn.) and sophomore Bennett Smith (Lake Oswego, Ore.) all collected four points for the Beavers, Bower with four goals, Wang with a goal and three assists and Smith with a career-high four assists. Senior Ford Carney (Garden City, N.Y.) finished with a goal and a helper, classmate Grey Sunderland (Bellevue, Wash.) won 10-of-18 face-offs and grad student James Turco (Woodbury, N.Y.) won 8-of-14, and the duo combined for 11 ground balls.

Senior Brendan Maher (Melrose, Mass.) scooped up five ground balls and graduate student Chip Quinn (Catonsville, Md.) added four GBs to lead the defensive effort. Junior goalie Alex Fascilla (Huntington, N.Y.) finished with 11 saves for his fifth straight double-digit save performance.

A balanced Pride attack saw four players finish with three points as graduate student Mason Nocito (Mahopac, N.Y.) and sophomore Matt Webb (Northport, N.Y.) scored three goals each, first-year Jake Degnan (Mahopac, N.Y.) tallied two goals and an assist and grad student Kevin Tierney (Glastonbury, Conn.) finished with a goal and two assists. Grad student Connor Roberts (Somers, Conn.) contributed a goal and an assist, junior Vincent Scialdone (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) won 12-of-23 face-offs, and sophomore Toby Oliveira (Little Compton, R.I.) caused two turnovers and grabbed three ground balls. Junior Kaden Quirk (Nahant, Mass.) and sophomore Ian Cote (Lake Stevens, Wash.) each made five saves in 30 minutes between the pipes.

After senior Connor Karsh (Glenview, Ill.) score the first goal for Babson, Springfield tallied three of the next four strikes, by Tierney, first-year Gage Sperlonga (Feeding Hills, Mass.) and Nocito, to take an early 3-2 lead. The Beavers came alive and rattled of six consecutive goals in the final four minutes, including five scores in the final two minutes of the frame, to take an 8-3 lead into the second quarter. Rainville pumped home three in a row and four of the six to spark the rally.

The visitors scored the first two goal of the second quarter, thanks to Degnan and grad student Jackson Lane (Shrewsbury, Mass.), but the Beavers potted six of the next seven to close out the half with a comfortable 14-6 margin. Bower had two goals in the surge and Rainville, Wang, junior Gavin Bailey (Hinsdale, Ill.) and senior Jackson Hamm (Calgary, Alberta) added one apiece.

Springfield tightened up the defense in the second half, allowing Babson only a Carney goal in the third frame while senior Nicholas Gorman (Valhalla, N.Y.), Webb and Nocito each scored once to cut the deficit to 15-9. After Degnan and Bower traded goals early in the fourth, Nocito score again with 11:43 remaining and Webb went back-to-back to cut the margin to three goals with four minutes remaining. The comeback fell short as Babson caused three Springfield turnovers the rest of the way.

Babson finished with a 49-41 advantage in shots, 43-34 margin in ground balls and 18-14 in face-offs. The Green and White were good on 18-of-19 clear attempts while Springfield was good on 24-of-27.

Both teams are back in action with NEWMAC games next Saturday at 1 p.m. as Babson takes on MIT in Cambridge in a rematch of last year's conference championship game and Springfield visits Emerson.

GAME NOTES
• Babson has won five of the last seven games against Springfield since 2018 but is just 8-32 all-time against the Pride.
• Five of Babson's seven games have been decided by four goals or less, with the Green and White winning three of them.
• The Beavers are 3-0 in home games this season and 10-2 at MacDowell Field since the start of last spring.