BABSON PARK, Mass.— Sophomore Camden Matthews (Westford, Mass.) scored a career-high seven goals, including the tying goal with two minutes remaining and the game-winner with 2.3 seconds to play, as Babson College edged MIT, 15-14, in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) men's lacrosse thriller Saturday afternoon at MacDowell Field.

The Beavers won their second straight game and fourth out of their last five to improve to 6-2 overall and 1-1 in the NEWMAC. The Engineers dropped their second in a row and fourth of their last five to drop to 3-4 overall and 1-1 in conference play.

Graduate student Justin Greene (Norwell, Mass.) contributed three goals and two assists for the Green and White, sophomore Sam Sisk (Madison, Conn.) added two goals and two assists, and classmate Seamus Rooney (Bay Shore, N.Y.) tallied a game-high three assists. Junior Will Reading (Southlake, Texas) won 12-of-16 face-offs and first-year Beck Trafton (Miami Beach, Fla.) captured 11-of-16, and Reading, Rooney and senior Riley Shaw (Duluth, Ga.) shared team-high honors with four ground balls each. Senior Alex Fascilla (Huntington, N.Y.) finished with 12 saves in goal in the victory.

Junior Bryce Metalios (Riverside, Fla.) led the visitors with four goals, senior Nick Stiles (New Canaan, Conn.) finished with two goals and an assist, junior Garrett Campagna (Lancaster, Pa.) added a goal and two assists for the Engineers. Senior Dylan Nelson (Sleepy Hollow, N.Y.) and first-year Riley Pierce (Vestavia, Ala.) each scored twice, and junior Zach Bleil (New Canaan, Conn.) was good for a goal and an assist. First-year Alexander Shen (Atheron, Calif.) caused four turnovers and scooped up four ground balls, and junior Collin Lung (Lynbrook, N.Y.) made 14 saves in the MIT goal in the setback.

MIT had the upper hand in the first quarter, with Stiles, Campagna and Pierce giving the Engineers a 3-0 lead in the first six minutes, and Metalios answering Babson goals by Sisk and Greene to put the visitors up 4-2 after one. Matthews and junior CJ Sanchez (New Rochelle, N.Y.) traded goals early in the second quarter before Babson caught fire, rattling off five straight goals in less than four minutes, one each by Matthews, sophomore Anthony Stillwell (Weston, Mass.), Sisk, graduate student Tripp Clark (Byfield, Mass.), and Greene, to give the Beavers an 8-5 lead with seven minutes to play in the second.

Metalios scored the last goal of the second and added a man-up marker to start the third quarter scoring as MIT cut the deficit to one goal. Graduate student Topher Bower (Chicago, Ill.) and Matthews answered as Babson regained the three-goal advantage, but Nelson and sophomore Hayden Calabretta (Lloyd Harbor, N.Y.) responded with a pair for the Engineers to close out the third quarter with Babson up, 10-9.

The teams alternated the first six goals of the final frame, with Matthews scoring twice and Greene adding one for Babson and MIT answering with goals by Pierce, Bleil and Stiles. The Engineers pulled even at 13-all on Nelson's second goal of the game with 4:11 remaining, and took their first lead since early in the second quarter, 14-13, on Metalios' fourth of the game with 2:59 to play.

Babson came back to tie the score at 14-all on Matthews' sixth of the game with 2:11 to go, and MIT was issued a penalty on the ensuing face-off. The Beavers got off five shots on the man-up situation, but none were on net, causing a shot-clock violation. MIT turned the ball over on the clear attempt, giving Babson the ball back with 26 second remaining, setting up Matthews to bury the game-winner with 2.3 seconds on the clock.

The Beavers had a 23-9 advantage on face-offs and won the ground ball battle, 36-28. MIT finished with a 57-51 advantage in shots, and had just eight turnovers, compared to 17 for Babson.

The Green and White returns to action on Wednesday at No. 7/6 Bowdoin at 7 p.m. in Brunswick, Maine. MIT returns home to host Colby on Tuesday at 1 p.m.

GAME NOTES
• Babson is 34-16 all-time against MIT in a series that dates back to 1978.
• The Beavers have won 13 of the last 16 games between the teams, although nine of the last 11 have been decided by three goals or fewer.
• Babson won the face-off battle for the fourth time this season, winning all four games.
• The Green and White are 2-1 this season in games decided by just one or two goals.
• Matthews has scored 22 goals this season and 16 in the last five games after scoring 13 goals as a rookie last season