Babson's strong third-quarter leads it past Salve Regina, 16-12

BABSON PARK, Mass. – Babson College used an 11-2 run during the second and third quarters to build a 12-6 lead and then withstood a late comeback attempt by visiting Salve Regina University as the Beavers defeated the Seahawks, 16-12, in a non-conference men's lacrosse contest at MacDowell Field on Wednesday afternoon.

With their fourth win in the last five games, the Beavers improved to 6-5 overall, while Salve Regina slipped to 6-7 with the loss.

Junior Cam Caruso (St. Charles, Ill.) had a big game in the win for Babson, recording three goals and three assists for six points while also picking up five groundballs and winning eight face-offs. Junior Jeff MacCune (Braintree, Mass.) added three goals for the Beavers, sophomore Alex Patinkin (Providence, R.I.) tallied one goal and three assists, and first-year Ryan Dawidjan (Worcester, Mass.) paced the defense with seven groundballs and a game-high four caused turnovers. Sophomore goalie Jay Whalen (Westwood, Mass.) played the first three quarters in net and made nine saves, while fellow sophomore Ryan Lee (Wallingford, Conn.) stopped five shots in the fourth.

Salve Regina received five goals and one assist from junior Chris Walker (Marshfield, Mass.), as well as four goals, one assist, and four groundballs from senior Evan Gates (Ridge, N.J.). Senior Blair Kelley (Lee, N.H.) led all players with nine groundballs, first-year Curtis McKeon (West Haven, Conn.) won 18 face-offs, and senior goalie Brett Pimental (East Falmouth, Mass.) made 17 saves in net.

The Seahawks got off to a quick start with four goals in the opening quarter, including three unanswered in the first three minutes of play. Walked scored the game's first goal just 58 seconds in, McKeon made it 2-0 at 13:56, and Walker struck again at 12:23 to give the Seahawks a 3-0 advantage. Babson finally got on the board when Dawidjan scored with 9:51 remaining in the period, but junior Brendan Carroll (Garden City, N.Y.) answered with 4:03 left to give Salve Regina a 4-1 lead after one.

The Beavers exploded for four straight goals to start the second quarter, beginning when Caruso assisted sophomore Jamie Schmidt (Shelburne, Vt.) at 13:46 and then scored a goal of his own just eight seconds later. First-year Bobby MacCune (Braintree, Mass.) and brother Jeff later added back-to-back scores at 10:44 and 3:33 to give Babson its first lead of the day, 5-4. Salve Regina would tie it when Carroll assisted Rooney with 2:05 left in the half, but Beavers' senior captain Armand Wilson (Fairfield, Conn.) converted a perfect catch-and-shoot off a pass from behind the net by classmate Tom Cykana (Minntonka, Minn.) to give the hosts a 6-5 cushion at the break.

Babson carried its momentum into the third quarter, which saw the Beavers outscore the visitors, 6-1. After Patinkin and Jeff MacCune struck just 20 seconds apart in the opening minute of the period, Schmidt converted a feed from senior captain Andrew Packer (Hudson, Ohio) for a man-up score at 9:28. Sophomore Mike Griffin (Duxbury, Mass.) followed with an unassisted tally with 8:24 to go in the quarter, as Babson increased its advantage to 10-5. The Seahawks would get one back when Gates scored with 6:26 to go in the third, but Jeff MacCune and Packer both netted goals in the final 3:17 to push the Beavers' lead to 12-6 heading into the fourth.

Refusing to go quietly, Salve Regina made things interesting with four straight goals to start the fourth. Walker scored three of his five goals and while Gates added another during the run, which trimmed Babson's lead to just three at 13-10 with 7:56 left to play.

Babson tallied a key goal to gain some breathing room with 4:13 left, as Patinkin fed Wilson on a man-down score to make it 14-10. Caruso then scored his third of the day off another Patinkin pass to push the margin to 15-10 with 1:37 remaining.

The Seahawks would get two final goals from Gates just six seconds apart to get back to within three, but Cykana scored off Caruso's third assist of the afternoon with 40 seconds left to finish off the 16-12 win.

Courtesy of Babson sports information