AMHERST, Mass.—Junior Sam Sisk (Madison, Conn.) finished with a season-high four points on three goals and one assist and graduate student Beau Burns (Washington, D.C.) won 23-of-28 face-offs and picked up a career-high 18 ground balls as No. 8 USILA/No. 6 USA Lacrosse Babson College defeated No. 17/14 Amherst College, 15-11, in non-conference men's lacrosse action on Wednesday night at Lehrman Stadium. 

With the victory, Babson improves to 5-0 for the first time since the pandemic-shortened 2021 campaign and just the third time since 1979. Amherst has dropped back-to-back games to nationally-ranked foes to slip to 1-2 on the year. 

Juniors Andrew Berardi (Orleands, Mass.) and Camden Matthews (Westford, Mass.) both scored twice, senior Bennett Smith (Lake Oswego, Ore.) provided a goal, two assists, three ground balls and two caused turnovers, and Burns and junior Seamus Rooney (Bay Shore, N.Y.) each added a goal and an assist to pace the Beavers. Graduate student Mason Dorr (Concord, Mass.) tied for game-high honors with three caused turnovers, junior Ryan St. Onge (Avon, Conn.) scooped up five ground balls and sophomore goalkeeper Andrew Almquist (Wakefield, Mass.) made 12 saves and collected four ground balls in the win. 

Senior Bennett Chow (Chicago, Ill.) and first-year Nate Cootauco (Baltimore, Md.) both recorded two goals and an assist, while senior Bob Gross (Potomac, Md.) tallied twice to lead eight different scorers for the Mammoths. Senior Thompson Lau (Pittsburgh, Pa.) finished with three caused turnovers, sophomore Carter Cave (Londonderry, Vt.) picked up four ground balls but was just 5-of-16 on face-offs, and senior goalkeeper Brooks Catlin (Boulder, Colo.) stopped 11 shots in the loss. 

The Green and White led 8-7 at halftime and broke the game by scoring five times over the final 5:13 of the third quarter. Matthews started the run with his first goal of the night, Sisk made it 10-7 just over a minute later and Matthews, junior Anthony Stillwell (Weston, Mass.) and Rooney scored over the final 47 seconds of the frame extending the margin to 13-7. 

Berardi notched his second goal of the contest 34 seconds in the fourth and Smith put away a feed from senior Jack Feeks (Georgetown, Mass.) to match the Beavers' largest lead of the night at 15-8 with 4:08 to go in the game before Amherst tacked on three late tallies for the final margin. 

Cootauco and Chow gave the Mammoths a 2-0 lead less than three minutes into the contest, but graduate student Patrick McAleavey (Trumbull, Conn.) scored a behind-the-back goal at the 9:02 mark and Berardi picked out the top right corner to tie the game with 6:12 left in the first. Sisk tied the game again at the 3:26 mark, graduate student Joey Allen (Philadelphia, Pa.) scored off a face-off win by Burns six seconds later and Sisk struck for the second time in less than a minute to put Babson in front 5-3 with 2:49 remaining in the opening quarter. 

Amherst got consecutive goals from senior Matthew Sheinberg (New Canaan, Conn.) and junior Max Youssefnia (Mercer Island, Wash.) to make it 6-6 with 5:52 left in the second, but Burns scored his first goal of the year after winning the ensuing face-off to put the Green and White in front for good and senior Braden Reilly (Belmont, Mass.) followed with another tally for an 8-6 advantage with 2:37 to play in the half. 

The Beavers finished with a 47-35 edge in shots, held a 54-33 advantage in ground balls and were successful on 18-of-25 clears. The Mammoths converted a pair of extra-man opportunities but converted just 22-of-31 clears in the loss. 

Both teams return to action on Saturday as Babson travels to Wheaton for its NEWMAC opener at 4 p.m., while Amherst hosts Bates at 12 p.m. 

GAME NOTES
•    The Beavers are now 3-3 all-time against Amherst and Wednesday's contest was the first between the teams since 1994.
•    Babson is now 4-3 going back to the start of last season against nationally-ranked opponents. 
•    The Green and White is now 29-3 since the start of the 2024 campaign when winning at least 50 percent of the face-offs. 
•    The Beavers recorded a season-high 15 caused turnovers in Wednesday's win and is now 15-1 dating back to the start of last season when finishing with eight or more caused turnovers.