FITCHBURG, Mass.— Sophomore transfer Evan Brown (Little Silver, N.J.) tallied a goal and an assist and Babson College scored three unanswered goals in the third period to defeat Fitchburg State University, 4-1, in the men's ice hockey season opener for both schools Friday evening inside the Wallace Civic Center.

The Beavers, who won their season opener for the fourth time in the last five years, begin the season at 1-0-0 while Fitchburg State, which was a conference champion and NCAA Tournament team last winter, is off to an 0-1-0 start.

Junior Sean Senier (Melrose, Mass.), first-year Brian Grant (Mansfield, Mass.) and senior Ian Driscoll (Middleton, Mass.) notched third-period goals for the Beavers. Senior Ryan Murphy (Groose Pointe Farms, Mich.) produced a pair of assists while junior Jimmy Fallon (Milton, Mass) and seniors Charlie Andriole (Branford, Conn.), Nolan Dion (Marshfield, Mass.), and Sam Sibold (South Hero, Vt.) collected one helper each. Senior Nate Mueller (Summit, N.J.) earned the win in goal with 27 saves on 28 shots.

First-year Tye Battipaglia (Cheshire, Conn.) scored the opening goal of the game for the hosts with assists from sophomore Jeremiah Snyder (Dubuque, Iowa) and first-year Aleksie Filimonov (Saint Petersburg, Russia). Junior Frederick Soderberg (Harrison Township, Mich.) finished with 31 saves in the setback.

Both teams scored goals in the first seven minutes of the game. Fitchburg drew first blood when Battipaglia tipped a shot from the point in the slot that went through Mueller's pads to put the Falcons in front at 5:39. Babson answered 73 seconds later when Brown, a transfer from Skidmore, buried a rebound from the right circle off a shot by Andriole that was kicked away by Soderberg for his first goal in a new uniform.

The Beavers couldn't capitalize on a first-period power play opportunity, and each team squandered a chance with a man advantage in the second period as the teams went into the final stanza tied at 1-1.

It took Senier just 1:29 into the third frame to put the Beavers ahead for good. After Dion circled with the puck behind the net to the right side, he found Senier, who had just come off the bench, near the left circle and he ripped a shot to the upper left corner for a 2-1 lead.

Just a minute and 36 seconds later, Grant doubled the lead for the visitors. The Green and White had a 2-on-2 entering the zone when Sibold dropped a pass to a trailing Grant, who found the net inside the left post for his first collegiate goal at 3:05.

Fitchburg would not go away and pulled its goalie with just under two minutes remaining, but Murphy set up Driscoll for an empty net goal to clinch the victory for the Beavers.

Babson finished with a 35-28 advantage in shots and the teams combined to go 0-for-5 on the power play (Bab 0-2, Fit 0-3).

The two teams will meet again on Saturday inside the Babson Skating Center to wrap up the two-game series at 4 p.m.

GAME NOTES
• Babson leads Fitchburg State 4-0-0 in the all-time series that dates back to the 1970-71 season, although Friday's game was the first between the two schools since 2003.
• The Beavers have won two in a row and are 9-4-0 in season debuts since 2013.
• The Green and White are 41-3-1 over the past five seasons when scoring at least four goals.
• Both teams wore special jerseys for charity and a pre-game ceremony was held as a tribute to Fitchburg native and Babson senior Jake Thibeault, who suffered two broken vertebrae and partial paralysis in an on-ice collision in 2021 while playing for Milton Academy and has been an inspirational member of the Babson hockey program for four years.