Babson Clips Lasell 3-1 in Men's Soccer Regular Season Finale

BABSON PARK, Mass.-The Lasell College men's soccer team dropped a 3-1 non-conference result in men's soccer action to Babson College on Wednesday afternoon at Hartwell-Rogers Field.With its sixth win in the last seven games, Babson is now 13-5-0 on the year, while Lasell concludes its regular season at 8-8-1.

Sophomore Caleb Long (Kingston, Mass.) and first-year Justin Kaplan (Medway, Mass.) also scored for the Beavers, who are ranked sixth in New England in the most recent NCAA regional rankings. Senior Eddie Roman (Revere, Mass.) notched the Lasers' lone goal early in the second half.

Long got the Green and White on the board with his fourth marker of the season just 6:48 into the match. Carlos took a pass along the left sideline, cut back inside and then delivered a perfect service over the Lasell back line for Long, who collected the feed and flicked a shot over charging junior goalkeeper Miguel Colmenares (Caracas, Venezuela) for a 1-0 lead.

After outshooting Lasell 10-2 over the opening 45 minutes, Babson extended its lead to 2-0 just 4:38 after halftime. After being fouled nearly 30 yards from goal, Carlos struck the ensuing free kick over the three-man wall and inside the left post for his third marker in as many games.

The Lasers responded though, as Roman's tally in the 52nd minute brought them back within a goal. The Beavers were unable to clear the ball out of their own end junior Conor Fitzgerald (Marshfield, Mass.) collected the loose ball at the edge of the penalty box. After beating four defenders his 10-yard shot was pushed away by Donato, but the rebound bounced right to Roman at the far post and he blasted a five-yard shot past a Babson defender and into the open net.

Junior goalkeeper Stephen Donato (Morganville, N.J.) made another stop on a Fitzgerald shot that was partially deflected to keep the margin at a single goal in the 73rd minute, and the Beavers followed with an insurance goal just over four minutes later. Kaplan settled an errant clearing pass just outside the box, took one dribble and put a low shot on goal that slipped through the hands of Colmenares and trickled over the goal line to make it 3-1 with 13:26 remaining in the match.

Donato finished with three saves to earn his seventh victory of the season for the Green and White, while Colmanares and senior Alex Serrazina (Ludlow, Mass.), who played the final 8:29, each stopped one shot for Lasell.

The Beavers held a 20-7 edge in shots and had a 7-3 advantage in corner kicks.

Both teams will return to action on Saturday as Babson heads to Emerson for its regular-season finale at 4 p.m., while Lasell will host in a GNAC quarterfinal match against Emmanuel at 1 p.m.