BABSON PARK, Mass.— Junior Alexander Yablonovskiy (Berkeley Heights, N.J.) and first-year Connor Hanrahan (Warrenville, Ill.) scored goals and No. 5 Babson College held off a comeback attempt to defeat Occidental College, 2-1 in the men's soccer season debut for both teams on Saturday afternoon at Hartwell-Rogers Field.

The Beavers start the campaign at 1-0-0 and are 7-0-2 in season openers since 2016. Occidental, playing its first of three games in four days, starts off a 0-1-0. The start of the match was delayed an hour and 45 minutes due to thunder and lightning in the area.

Junior McKenzy Pierre (West Orange, N.J.) picked up an assist for the Green and White. Senior Derek Polanco (Verona, N.J.) made two saves to earn the win in his second career start and first since November 2, 2023.

Senior Tyler Na-Nakornpanom (Tujunga, Calif.) scored the goal for the Tigers and first-year Oscar Francis (London, England) registered an assist. Junior Joseph Bassett (Miami, Fla.) finished with eight saves in the setback.

Babson took all six shots of the first half and took a 1-0 lead into the break. The goal came in the 16th minute when Yablonovskiy blasted a free kick from just outside the top of the box past the Oxy wall and into the left side of the goal just inside the post. Bassett made a save for the visitors in the 37th minute on a shot by junior Lukas Gessner (Princeton Junction, N.J.) after sophomore Henry Bacon (Colchester, Vt.) hit a shot off the crossbar.

Both teams had some scoring opportunities in the second half. Polanco made a diving stop on a header by Na-Nakornpanom from close range in the 54th minute, and made a save on sophomore Devin Bening (Woodland Hills, Calif.) when he broke free on the left side in the 69th minute.

Moments after he was taken down by a hard hit in his own zone, Pierre made a beautiful play to set up Babson's second goal. He took a one-touch pass from junior Will Lloyd (Lexington, Mass.) near the midfield stripe, broke down the right sideline and outran two defenders before curling toward the goal and dropping a soft pass back to Hanrahan, who ripped a shot past Bassett under the crossbar for his first collegiate goal.

Down two goals, Oxy kept the pressure up and got one goal back with 1:42 remaining. Francis slipped a pass through the Babson defense where Na-Nakornpanom tracked it down and finished off the goal inside the right post. Babson controlled the final two minutes to secure the win.

The Beavers finished with a 14-9 advantage in shots and had a 6-0 margin in corner kicks.

Babson is right back on MacDowell Field with a 1:00 p.m. kickoff Saturday against UMass Boston. Occidental plays Sunday at MIT at 12 p.m.

GAME NOTES
• Friday's match was the first career meeting between the two schools.
• Babson is unbeaten in 21 straight matches (16-0-5) at home since suffering a 2-1 loss to Connecticut College on September 23, 2023.
• The Oxy goal was the first one conceded by the Beaver defense in more than 895 minutes, going back to a 2-1 win at MIT on October 26, 2024.
• The goal was also the first surrendered at home in over 905 minutes, going back to a 1-1 draw with Amherst on September 24, 2024.