SCHENECTADY, N.Y.— Graduate student Joey Allen (Philadelphia, Pa.) and seniors Bennett Smith (Lake Oswego, Ore.) and Braden Reilly (Reading, Mass) combined for five goals and five assists and Babson College came back from an early 4-0 deficit to defeat Union College, 12-10, in non-conference men's lacrosse action Saturday afternoon at Frank Bailey Field at Bertagna-Class of 1985 Stadium.

Babson won its second straight game to start the season to move to 2-0 while Union has dropped its first two games and starts off at 0-2.

Sophomore Andrew Almquist (Wakefield, Mass.) made a career-high 15 saves in goal for the Beavers, who allowed just six goals over the final 55 minutes. Allen finished with three goals and an assist, Smith produced two goals and an assist and shared team-high honors with Almquist with five ground balls, and Reilly contributed a team-high three assists in the win. Graduate student Patrick McAleavey (Trumbull, Conn.) and junior Seamus Rooney (Bay Shore, N.Y.) chipped in with two goals apiece in the win.

Union also had a balanced offensive attack as first-year Luke Allen (Milton, Mass.) tallied three goals and classmate Garrett Salit (Hyannis, Mass.) and senior Walter Popko (Lattingtown, N.Y.) added two goals and an assist each. Senior long-stick middie John Sula (Hingham, Mass.) scooped up a game-high 11 ground balls, classmate Luke Tranter (Sudbury, Mass.) won 15-of-24 face-offs and collected seven ground balls, and junior Nick Lynch (Madison, Conn.) finished with 11 saves in goal in the setback.

The hosts came out firing and potted four goals in the first five minutes. Allen and Popko started with unassisted goals before Allen and Salit followed with back-to-back man-up goals as the Garnet Chargers led 4-0 just 4:25 into the contest. Smith put Babson on the board to stop the bleeding but was answered less than a minute later on sophomore Christian Kelly's (Westwood, Mass.) first goal of the season to restore Union's four-goal margin.

Rooney closed out the first frame and opened the second with consecutive goals and McAleavey followed with his first of the year as Babson closed the margin to 5-4 early in the second. Salit scored his second goal for Union but Babson responded with goals by Allen, junior Sam Sisk (Madison, Conn.) and Smith to take a 7-6 lead with six minutes left in the half. Popko answered with his second of the game for Union and the teams went into the intermission tied at 7-7.

The Beavers opened the third quarter with three unanswered goals by senior Tyee Ambrosh (Danvers, Mass.), Allen and junior Bruno Batty (Jamaica Plain, Mass.). Union got two back on goals by sophomore Bo Bensley (South Hamilton, Mass.) and first-year Drew Laubenstein (Jamesville, N.Y.) to end the third quarter, cutting the margin to 10-9, but McAleavey and Allen scored 45 seconds apart for Babson midway through the fourth to restore the three-goal lead. Luke Allen finished off the scoring for Union with six minutes remaining.

Babson had a slim 44-43 advantage in shots while Union finished with a 44-30 margin in ground balls. Both teams scored three times in man-up situations and the Garnet Chargers had a 16-10 edge on face-offs.

The Beavers will be back on the same field next Saturday with a neutral site game against No. 4/5 RIT at 1 p.m. Union will seek its first win of the season Thursday at Springfield at 4 p.m.

GAME NOTES
• After 16 straight losses to start the series, Babson has captured two in a row against Union in a series that dates back to 2009.
• The Green and White are 4-2 since the beginning of last season and 10-6 going back to 2023 in games decided by two goals or fewer.
• The Beavers have won 16 straight games going back to the start of last season when scoring at least 10 goals.