BABSON PARK, Mass.—Babson College scored a pair of second-half goals to defeat visiting Salve Regina University, 2-0, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) men's soccer action on Saturday afternoon at Hartwell-Rogers Field.
Babson snapped its run of back-to-back draws to improve to 7-2-4 overall and 2-0-2 in conference play. Salve Regina, which is winless over its last three matches, drops to 3-6-4 overall and 0-3-1 in the NEWMAC.
Senior
Alexander Yablonovskiy (Berkeley Heights, N.J.) and first-year
Adonai Samuel (Brookline, Mass.) each provided a goal, while senior
McKenzy Pierre (West Orange, N.J.) and junior
Phillip Finch (La Jolla, Calif.) both recorded an assist for the Beavers. First-year goalkeeper
Braden Condit (Denver, Colo.) made two saves to claim both his first collegiate win and shutout.
Junior Adonis Santiago (Oakdale, Conn.) finished with eight saves in the loss for the Seahawks.
The Green and White dominated possession for much of the contest and broke the scoreless deadlock on Yablonovskiy's third goal of the year in the 59th minute. A Salve Regina defender headed away sophomore
Tanner Michelson's (Newport, R.I.) corner kick but Finch settled the loose ball and played it back into the box for Yablonovskiy, who drilled a powerful header under the crossbar.
Condit denied the Seahawks' best scoring chance of the match by pushing away first-year Max Melnik's (Needham, Mass.) header off a corner kick in the 71st minute, and Samuel's first career goal less than a minute later put the game away. Pierre gained control off a loose ball following a Salve Regina corner and flicked past a defender for Samuel, who carried the ball through the midfield before blasting a shot past Santiago from a step inside the top of the box.
Babson outshot the visitors 14-2 in a first half that included sophomore
Blake Miller (Odessa, Fla.) hitting the crossbar with a header in the 26th minute and Santiago making a pair of terrific saves to deny sophomore
Connor Hanrahan (Naperville, Ill.) in the 28th minute and graduate student
Cam Merrill (New Gloucester, Maine) just past the half-hour mark. Santiago also got his fingertips on a header by Yablonovskiy that deflected off the crossbar just minutes before the opening goal.
The Beavers finished with a 25-4 edge in shots and a 10-3 advantage in corner kicks in the match.
Both teams return to action on Wednesday as Babson hosts Emerson at 6 p.m., while Salve Regina takes on Coast Guard at 7 p.m.
MATCH NOTES
• The Beavers are now 11-0-1 all-time against Salve Regina.
• Saturday's victory ended a run of eight straight victories by a single goal for Babson dating back to November of last year.
• Yablonovskiy moved into a tie for 13th place on Babson's all-time list with his 23rd career goal in the win.
• The Green and White is now 5-0-1 on the year when scoring first.
