WALTHAM, Mass.—Visiting Babson College scored twice in the span of 98 seconds early in the second half and fended off a furious late rally to defeat 18th-ranked Brandeis University, 2-1, in non-conference men's soccer action on Wednesday night at Gordon Field.
With the win, Babson is off to its first 4-0 start since 2012. Brandeis, which is now winless in three straight matches, slips to 1-2-1 on the year.
Senior
McKenzy Pierre (West Orange, N.J.) and sophomore
Nicholas Adams (Norwell, Mass.) each provided a goal for the Beavers. Graduate student
Drew Stephans (Newton, Mass.) and senior
Alexander Yablonovskiy (Berkeley Heights, N.J.) each recorded an assist in the win, as did graduate student
Will Devall (Shoreham, N.Y.), who also made four of his season-high six saves in the second half win his third straight start.
Senior Keller Chamovitz (Sewickly, Pa.) recorded a goal and sophomore Langston Byrd (Austin, Texas) registered an assist for the Judges, who got two saves from senior goalkeeper Benny Shin (San Diego, Calif.).
Scoreless just past the hour mark thanks to a terrific save by Devall on Yoav Feingold (Wellesley, Mass.) in the 50th minute, the Green and White took the lead on Pierre's second goal of the season against the run of play in the 63rd minute. Devall put the ball back in play following an offside call on Brandeis and his long free kick was headed forward by Yablonovskiy allowing Pierre to run onto it and beat Shin inside the right post.
The Beavers doubled their advantage in the 65th minute as Adams received a pass from Stephans and took a touch before hitting a 20-yard blast that skipped over the hand of Shin for his first career marker. Chamovitz pulled a goal back for the Judges in the 72nd minute with a terrific side-volley just underneath the crossbar following a restart before Devall and Babson closed things down defensively.
Junior back
Henry Bacon (Colchester, Vt.) defended Byrd well to force his shot high following a long ball into the box in the 77th minute and a header by junior Kaden Collins (Farmington, Conn.) off a corner kick bounced just over the crossbar at the far post in the 79th minute. Devall also was well-positioned to catch a blast by first-year Danny Holzer (San Diego, Calif.) in the 81st minute to kee the visitors in front.
Shin kept Brandeis within striking distance twice racing off his line to deny Babson sophomore
Connor Hanrahan's (Naperville, Ill.) bids to tack on an insurance goal over the final five minutes.
The Beavers were outshot 15-9, which includes a 12-6 margin for the Judges over the final 45 minutes. The hosts also attempted four of the six corner kicks in the match.
Babson is off until next Tuesday when it hosts Roger Williams at 4 p.m., while Brandeis continues its three-game homestand against MIT on Saturday at 3 p.m.
GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are now 33-29-11 all-time against Brandeis and have won back-to-back road games in the series for the first time since 1997 and 2002.
• Yablonovskiy has at least one point in seven of the last eight games dating back to last November, Pierre extended his points streak to three games and Devall, who played in 38 career games at Skidmore, recorded the first assist of his career.
• Babson has won four consecutive games by a one-goal margin for the first time since 2011 when it recorded five straight one-goal wins from October 16-November 5.
• The Green and White is now unbeaten in 23 straight matches going back to the start of the 2024 campaign when scoring first.
