NORTON, Mass. – The Wheaton College (Mass.) men's soccer team came away with a 1-1 draw against visiting Babson College this afternoon in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference play at Keefe Field on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons are now 8-2-6 overall and 3-1-3 in league play, while the Beavers are 9-2-5 and 4-0-3.
Despite Babson taking 15 shots, just two were on frame. Five of Wheaton's 10 shots were on net. The Beavers held a healthy 12-5 shot advantage in the second half. The Lyons owned a 5-4 edge in corner kicks for the game.
Both goals in the game were scored within the first three-plus minutes of each half.
Wheaton scored just 3:04 into the match to take a 1-0 lead. Sophomore forward Paco Polo (Madrid, Spain) ripped a shot that was denied and collected his own rebound in the goal mouth, before lifting a shot into the upper right corner for his sixth marker of the season in the fourth minute.
Babson was awarded a penalty kick just 66 seconds into the second half when sophomore back Adam Stetson (Granby, Mass.) was taken down inside the box. Senior Alexander Yablonovskiy (Berkeley Heights, N.J.) took advantage of the opportunity, putting his try into the upper left corner of the net for his fourth goal of the year and a 1-1 tie.
The Lyons made a bid to retake the lead just over 14 minutes into the second half off a free kick, but what looked like a header goal was called back due to an offsides call. Sophomore forward Vinny McGann (Chelmsford, Mass.) lifted a free kick into the goal mouth, where senior back Jacques Violette (Madison, Conn.) headed a centering cross to senior forward Declan Rhatigan (Holderness, N.H.) for the finish with a diving header, but it was wiped away after the offsides call.
Polo paced Wheaton's offense with four shots, while senior midfielder Pierre McKenzy (West Orange, N.J.) led the Beavers with three shots.
Senior keeper Nick Phinney (Gorham, Maine) was credited with a save for the Lyons and first year goalie Braeden Condit (Denver, Colo.) stopped four shots for Babson.
Wheaton returns to the pitch on Saturday, October 31 when it travels to Springfield, Mass. to take on NEWMAC rival Springfield College at 1:00 p.m., while the Beavers host United States Coast Guard Academy on the same day at the same time.
