BABSON PARK, Mass.— Sophomore Wilder Judelson (Winter Park, Fla.) registered a goal and an assist, and Amherst College used a strong second half to defeat No. 9 Babson College, 3-0, in non-conference men's soccer action Wednesday afternoon at Hartwell-Rogers Field.
With the loss, the Beavers are winless in their last three games, falling to 6-2-2 overall, while Amherst snapped a three-game winless streak of its own to improve to 3-3-2 on the season.
Graduate student keeper
Will Devall (Shoreham, N.Y.) made one save for the Beavers in 71 minutes of action between the pipes before giving way to sophomore
Pietro Arcoria (New York, N.Y.), who made three saves in 19 minutes in his collegiate debut.
Junior Trey Sheppard (Columbus, Ohio) finished with a pair of saves in the Amherst goal for his second clean sheet of the season. First-year Edward Wilkey (New York, N.Y.) and sophomore Vincent Akanbo (Old Akrade, Ghana) scored goals for the Mammoths, senior Riley Priddy (Garrison, N.Y.) produced a pair of assists, and senior Mohammed Nuhu (Accra, Ghana) and sophomore Timothy Chow (Hong Kong, China) chipped in with one assist each.
After an uneventful opening 17 minutes, Babson nearly got on the scoreboard first when sophomore
Will Boecher (Wellesley, Mass.) ripped a shot from 20 yards out on the left side, but the ball bounced off the upper inside of the right post and back into play before being cleared out of harm's way by the Amherst defense. Moments later, first-year
James Cooper (Watertown, Conn.) had a good shot from 10 yards out denied by Sheppard.
It was the 21st minute before the Mammoths produced their first shot but they made it count. Priddy sent a long ball from his own end of the field to the right corner, where Judelson ran it down and sent a cross into the middle of the box, and Wilkey tapped it into the left side of the goal for his third goal of the season and a 1-0 lead.
Babson had a good opportunity to get an equalizer in the 32nd minute when Sheppard charged out his position to break up a play, but the ball got loose and first-year
Adonai Samuel (Brookline, Mass.) got off a shot from 10 yards out but it was knocked away by Priddy to avert a goal.
Amherst doubled its lead two minutes into the second half. Chow intercepted a Babson clearing attempt and sent the ball back into the box, where Judelson booted the loose ball knee-high out of midair and into the right side of the goal for a 2-0 advantage.
Cooper unleashed a good shot for Babson in the 54th minute from the top of the box headed toward the right post but Sheppard made a diving stop going to his left.
The Mammoths tacked on a third goal in the 67th minute to pull away. Priddy sent another ball from his own end to Nuhu in the Amherst third of the field. Nuhu sent Akanbo through the Babson defense on a partial breakaway and Akanbo slid a shot underneath a charging Devall for his first goal of the season.
Amherst ended up with a 12-6 advantage in second-half shots for a 16-11 margin in the game, including 7-3 in shots on target. Babson had a slim 4-3 lead in corner kicks.
The Beavers return to conference play on Saturday when they travel to MIT at 1 p.m. Amherst has its own conference matchup on Saturday at Hamilton at 2 p.m.
GAME NOTES
• Babson is 5-18-7 all-time against Amherst in a series that dates back to 1981.
• The outcome was the largest margin of victory in the series since Amherst knocked off Babson by the same score in the 2021 NCAA Tournament second round.
• Prior to Wednesday's decision, Babson's previous 12 games going back to last season had all been decided by a single goal or ended in a tie, including eight wins, two losses and two draws.
• The first-half goal by Amherst was just the second goal conceded by Babson in the opening 45 minutes over the last seven matches.
• The Beavers finish the regular season with a 1-2 record against teams from the NESCAC, including a win over Bates and losses to No. 11 Tufts and Amherst.
