| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Babson (3-3) | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| Whittier (4-0) | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 8 |
| Babson | Whittier |
|---|---|
| G: Tom Mallon - 2 | G: 2 Players (#1, #19 - 2) |
| A: 2 Players (#13, #26 - 1) | A: Daniel McQuade - 3 |
| Sv: James Whalen - 6 | Sv: Robert Bazlen - 10 |
| GB: 3 Players (#3, #7, #18 - 5) | GB: Daniel McQuade - 4 |
| Team Statistics | Babson | Whittier |
|---|---|---|
| Shots | 31 | 32 |
| Ground Balls | 26 | 21 |
| Saves | 6 | 10 |
| Clears | 16-20 | 16-21 |
| Turnovers | 20 | 19 |
| Face Offs Won | 13 | 6 |
| Man Up | 2-7 | 1-3 |
Poets win fourth straight; Come from behind to beat Babson 8-7
Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
WHITTIER, Calif. – The Whittier College men's lacrosse team won their fourth straight game coming from behind early in the fourth quarter to beat Babson 8-7 Tuesday afternoon.
Whittier now improves to 4-0 while Babson drops to 3-3.
A game that had ranking implications on the line for Div. III turned out to be a battle from the start.
Babson jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first quarter capped off by a man up goal from Tom Mallon but with just under two minutes to go, freshman Foster Cunningham received a ball cutting across the middle from Daniel McQuade cutting the Beaver lead to one at 2-1.
Coming out in the second quarter Babson added a goal in the eleventh minute but saw Cunningham tack on his second goal of the game to again cut the lead to one at 3-2.
But Babson continued to make big stops on the defensive end that led to back to back goals that put them up by three 5-2 with 4:18 remaining in the first half.
With 29 seconds remaining in the second quarter Danny Prevedel was charged with an illegal body check that gave the Beavers the ball with another chance to add to their lead but on the defensive end the Poets' Jake Hawkridge forced a turnover from Babson's Jamie Schmidt and took it the length of the field and found a streaking Hunter Hall who found the back of the goal in the final 10 seconds of the first half that pulled the Poets within two at 5-3.
Coming out of the break the Beavers added a quick goal in the first minute of play to regain their three goal lead but Whittier didn't go away and scored two unanswered with the first coming from Kevin Looney who was found cutting to the goal from behind the net from Sam Russell.
Then with under a minute remaining in the third Looney took a shot that ended up wide. Russell then took the ball and turned it over on the next possession but in a matter of seconds Mike Neumayr caused his own turnover and stripped a Beaver defender and picked up his lone groundball for the game in front of the Babson goal and tossed it in to close out the quarter that pulled the Poets within one at 6-5.
With the momentum tossed in their favor the Poets began playing more aggressively and were patient on the offensive side of the ball and grabbed their first lead of the contest with back to back goals from Hall on a man up situation followed by a goal from Prevedel who was found from McQuade that put the Poets in front 7-6 with just under 6:00 to play.
The Beavers didn't go away though and came right back on their next possession to tie the game up at 7-7.
On the ensuing faceoff Babson took control and had a good look at the go ahead goal but Robert Bazlen came away with one of his 10 saves and pushed the tempo up the field passing it to Prevedel who cleared it up the field and found McQuade out in the flat who added the go ahead goal with a 3:13 to go.
On the ensuing faceoff Chad Kelsey came away with one of his biggest wins of the day but saw it turned over by Hawkridge who gave Babson an opportunity to tie the game up one last time. But Andrew Swett had other plans and with his long pole forced a turnover from Cam Caruso and went the other way passing it up to Neumayr who held onto it to preserve the one goal win.
The Purple & Gold were led by Hall who finished with two goals on six shots, one assist, three ground balls, and one caused turnover.
Whittier returns to the field this Thursday, March 22 as they take on Union (N.Y.) beginning at 4pm for their final home game during their three game home stand before leaving for Spring Break.
