Babson Park, Mass. - March 16, 2024 - The Springfield College men's lacrosse dropped a 16-13 decision to 20th-rankend Babson on Saturday afternoon in their New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference opener on Saturday afternoon.

Springfield, which played its fourth nationally-ranked opponent so far this season, dipped to 0-6 while the Beavers moved to 4-2.

The difference in the game proved to be a 18-plus minute span in the first half where Babson outscored Springfield by a 12-3 margin to go into the half with a 14-6 advantage.  Both Mason Nocito (Mahopac, N.Y.) and Matt Webb (Northport, N.Y.) each scored three goals and Connor Roberts (Somers, Conn.) and Michael Manning (Glenville, N.Y.) each picked up five ground balls.  Babson owned a 49-41 edge in shots and  43-34 advantage in ground balls as they won 18-of-32 face-offs in the game. 

After Nocito pumped in a strike off a feed from Ryan MacDonald (Carmel, N.Y.) at the 6:55 mark to give the Pride a 3-2 lead, Babson responded with six goals in a span of 3:48, including five in the final 1:40 of the quarter.  Jake Degnan (Mahopac, N.Y.) and Jackson Lane (Shrewsbury, Mass.) responded with goals just 24 seconds apart to make it an 8-5 game, only to have the Beavers close out the half on a 6-1 push to have their lead balloon to 14-6 at the half.

Springfield limited Babson to just two goals in the second half as it mounted a rally to pull within 16-13 after Webb scored a pair under a minute apart with just over four minutes left in regulation.  However, Springfield turned the ball over three times down the stretch as it was unable to complete its comeback bid.  

Springfield will continue conference play next Saturday when it travels to face Emerson in a 1 pm contest. 

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