AMHERST, Mass.— No. 13 Amherst College scored a pair of first-half goals 17 minutes apart and Babson College couldn't fully recover as the Mammoths posted a 2-1 victory over the Beavers in a close non-conference men's soccer match Tuesday afternoon at Hitchcock Field.

With the loss, the Beavers have dropped three games in a row to fall to 4-3-2 overall while the Mammoths, the defending NCAA Division III national champions, remain unbeaten at 4-0-3 on the season.  

Junior Alexander Yablonovskiy (Berkeley Heights, N.J.) scored his fourth goal of the season for the Beavers and classmates Titus Charles (San Tan Valley, Ariz.) and junior Will Lloyd (Lexington, Mass.) recorded their first assists. Junior keeper JB Montague (Lutz, Fla.) made five saves in goal in the setback.

Junior Mohammed Nuhu (Accra, Ghana) tallied a goal and an assist for the Mammoths, sophomore Obed Opoku (Accra, Ghana) scored one goal and sophomore Sam Davis (New York, N.Y.) picked up an assist. Sophomore keeper Trey Sheppard (Columbus, Ohio) made four saves in goal in the victory.

Amherst took just seven minutes to score the opening goal of the match. Nuhu hit a volley from Davis out of midair from 15 yards away and over a leaping Montague into the back of the net for his third goal of the season and the early 1-0 advantage.

The Mammoths doubled their lead in the 19th minute when Nuhu fed Opoku with a thru ball to the left side of the box, and Opoku punched a shot from the left edge of the six-yard box that went inside the right post for his second goal of the season.

Babson had a good chance to get on the board with three minutes to go in the half but Sheppard made a diving stop to his left on a shot by sophomore Maxi Martinez (Miami, Fla.).

Amherst nearly scored in the opening minute of the second half but Montague deflected a shot from close range. The Beavers finally got on the board in the 60th minute when Charles and Lloyd worked a give and go off a throw in near the right end line, and Charles served a cross into the box, where Yablonovskiy knocked a header through the hands of the keeper and into the net to cut the deficit in half.

The Green and White kept the pressure on the Amherst goal in the second half but could not convert. Martinez had a good shot in the 77th minute but it went just high over the cross bar, and another good look by Martinez with three minutes remaining was blocked.

The hosts finished with a 13-8 advantage in total shots (7-5 in shots on goal), while Babson had a 7-4 margin in corner kicks.

Babson will be on the road again Saturday at Springfield at 1 p.m. Amherst is home again on Saturday hosting Bates as 2:30 p.m.

GAME NOTES
• Babson is 5-17-7 all-time against Amherst in a series that dates back to 1991.
• Yablonovskiy's goal was just the second allowed by Amherst in seven outings this season and broke a three-game shutout streak for the Mammoths.
• The Green and White are 3-3-5 against NESCAC opponents since 2023, which includes a dramatic last-second win at Amherst two years ago.
• The Beavers suffered just their fourth loss in 25 games (11-4-10) away from home going back to September 14, 2023.