SPRINGFIELD, Mass.— Babson College scored twice in the first 28 minutes and went on to post a 3-1 victory over Springfield College in the first New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) men's soccer match of the season Saturday afternoon at the Irv Schmid Sports Complex.

With the win, the Beavers snapped a three-game losing streak and improved to 5-3-2 overall and 1-0-0 in the NEWMAC. Springfield dropped it second straight game and fell to 5-4-0 overall and 1-1-0 in conference play.

Juniors Huey Miller (Gill, Mass.) and Will Lloyd (Lexington, Mass.) produced goals for the Beavers and first-year Will Boecher (Wellesley, Mass.) added an assist. Junior keeper JB Montague (Lutz, Fla.) made six saves in goal in the victory.

First-year Gianni Pazvakavambwa (Franklin, Mass.) scored for the Pride, and junior Luke Afonso (Ludlow, Mass.) and first-year Talan Bradley (South Kingstown, R.I.) collected assists. Senior Noah Pote (Washington, Conn.) made five saves in goal in the setback.

After Montague made a pair of saves going to his right in the first five minutes, the Beavers took an early lead with an own goal in the eighth minute. Modiano took a corner kick from the left side and the ball curled toward the net where a Springfield defender tried to clear it away but ended up heading the ball into his own goal.

The Beavers doubled their lead in the 28th minute when Miller ran down a long pass into the left side of the box from sophomore Maxi Martinez (Miami, Fla.) from near the midfield stripe. Miller made a pair of moves and got off a first shot, which was blocked, but his second effort beat Pote inside the left post for his first of the season.

Springfield cut the margin in half with its first goal in the 41st minute. Afonso delivered a long ball into the box from the left side to the right endline, where Bradley rank it down and sent a pass back across the middle and Pazvakavambwa one-touched a shot up under the crossbar to make it 2-1 at the half.

Pote denied junior Alexander Yablonovskiy (Berkeley Heights, N.J.) on a good chance from 10 yards out early in the second half. Montague made a diving stop to his left to stop a solid shot by junior Connor Policarpio (Bristol, Conn.) in the 78th minute. The Green and White got some breathing room in the 80tn minute on a give-and-go play between Boecher and Lloyd, with Boecher sliding a return pass to Lloyd at the top of the 18-yard box and Lloyd ripped a shot past Pote inside the left post.

Montague made back-to-back saves on Pazvakavambwa in the last six minutes to preserve the victory for the Beavers.

The Green and White finished with a 15-12 margin in total shots although shots on target were tied at 7-all. The visitors had a 6-4 edge in corner kicks.

Babson returns home for its next three games, beginning Tuesday against No. 22 Tufts at  4 p.m. at Hartwell-Rogers Field. Springfield plays again next Saturday with a NEWMAC game at MIT at 1 p.m.

GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are unbeaten in their last eight contests against the Pride (7-0-1) and is 27-7-5 all-time against Springfield in a series that dates back to 1994.
• Springfield's goal was the first against Babson since 2018 and broke a string of seven straight Babson shutouts over the Pride.
• Babson is 19-0-7 on the road against NEWMAC foes dating back to September 15, 2018.
• The Green and White stopped their longest losing streak (three games) since 2013.