BABSON PARK, Mass.— Senior
Will Lloyd (Lexington, Mass.) scored the only goal and graduate student keeper
Will Devall (Shoreham, N.Y.) made three saves as No. 5 Babson College blanked Springfield College 1-0 in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) men's soccer opener Saturday morning at rainy Hartwell-Rogers Field.
With the victory, the Beavers registered their third consecutive shutout to improve to 6-0-1 on the season and 1-0 in NEWMAC play while the Pride lost its second straight game and dipped to 2-5-1 overall and 1-1 in the conference.
Senior
Luca Tusche (Montville, N.J.) registered an assist on the game-winner, and Babson's back line of senior
Huey Miller (Gill, Mass.), junior
Henry Bacon (Colchester, Vt.), and sophomores
Adam Stetson (Granby, Mass.) and
Blake Miller (Odessa, Fla.) limited the Pride to just nine shot attempts and three shots on target.
Junior Tommy Fenton (East Hampton, Conn.) made six saves in the Pride goal. Seniors Aidan Hallinan (New Windsor, N.Y.) and Connor Policarpio (Bristol, Conn.) and junior Tommy Quiterio (Ludlow, Mass.) produced the only three shots on target in the loss.
Springfield had a missed opportunity in the fifth minute when junior Jared Kelly (Islip Terrace, N.Y.) nearly had a breakaway when he ran down a through ball over the top of the Babson defense but Stetson ran it down and broke up the play.
The Green and White had their first good attempt in the ninth minute but Bacon's header went over the net. Fenton made a terrific save on senior
Titus Charles (San Tan Valley, Ariz.) in the 11th minute and another solid stop on a blast from
Blake Miller through traffic in the 31st minute.
Kelly made a nice scoring attempt for the visitors late in the first half but his free kick from 25 yards out was just hand and wide, and the teams remained scoreless after 45 minutes.
Babson maintained the pressure on the Pride goal again in the second half. Graduate student
Drew Stephans (Newton, Mass.) had a pair of shots denied by Fenton early on to keep the game scoreless.
The Beavers finally broke through in the 57th minute when Tusche delivered a beautiful free kick from 40 yards out into the box, and Lloyd leaped over the keeper to knock a header into the left side of the goal for his second goal of the season and a 1-0 lead.
Lloyd had a chance at an insurance goal with 10 minutes remaining but his shot sailed high over the net.
The Beavers finished with a 20-9 advantage in shots, including 7-3 in attempts on target. Springfield had a slim 6-5 margin in corner kicks.
Babson is back on the pitch on Monday with a tough test at No. 11 Tufts at 7 p.m. in Medford, a game that was pushed back a day due to the weather on Sunday. Springfield returns home to host Worcester State in non-conference action at 7 p.m.
GAME NOTES
• Babson is 28-7-5 all-time against Springfield in a series that dates back to 1994, and unbeaten in the last nine matches versus the Pride (8-0-1), conceding just one goal during this stretch.
• The Beavers are unbeaten through seven games for just the fourth time since 1989 and the first time since the 2024 squad was 7-0-6 out of the gate.
• Babson has not allowed a goal in its last 288 minutes while recording three straight shutouts.
• Going back to the start of the 2021 season, the Green and White are 28-3-8 against NEWMAC teams in the regular season.
• The game was moved up two-and-a-half hours to begin at 10:30 a.m. due to an impending storm.
