Leopards Fall in Season Opener

(Courtesy of Babson Sports Information)

Babson Park, Mass. – In the opening day of the 3rd Annual Babson Soccer Classic, the Babson College men's soccer team defeated visiting Wentworth Institute of Technology 3-2 in game one. Sophomore Billy Nickerson (Middleton, Mass.) scored two first half goals for the Beavers and first-year Eric Anderson (Scituate, Mass.) scored the game winner in the 64th minute to give Babson the victory.

Nickerson's first goal came at the 5:39 mark after receiving a cross from senior Dan Fogarty (Brookline, N.H.). Nickerson redirected the cross into the lower right corner of the net. He scored again just ten minutes later off a rebounded shot from teammate Dan Hixon (Foxboro, Mass.). Wentworth's Devin Richard (Smithfield, R.I.) put the Leopards on the board with 15 minutes remaining in the half after receiving a pass from teammate Josh Deschene (Wester, Mass.) and shooting a quick shot to the lower right corner. At the half, the Beavers had the 2-1 advantage.

The Leopards tied the game at 2-2 in the 55th minutes when John Golden (Whitman, Mass.) scored off of a rebound from one of teammate Ben Nasman's (Lenox, Mass.) shots.  Babson took the lead for good when they were awarded a corner kick in the 64th minute. Sophomore Salomon Guindi (Mexico City, Mexico) crossed a perfect ball to Anderson who one-timed it into the lower left corner of the goal resulting in the 3-2 Babson victory.

Sophomore Ian Siekman (Bethel, Maine) earned his first collegiate win playing all 90 minutes for the Beavers in goal making five total saves. For Wentworth, junior Brian Pearsall (Sanford, Maine) went the distance in net making nine saves. The Beavers outshot Wentworth 27-9 and had a 9-1 advantage on corner kicks.

With the win, Babson improves to 1-1 on the season and Wentworth is 0-1. The Beavers will take on Eastern Connecticut State University Sunday at 1pm at Hartwell-Rogers Field, while Wentworth will face MIT at 3:30pm.