BABSON PARK, Mass.— Junior goalie Alex Fascilla (Huntington, N.Y.) made a career-high 16 saves and a stifling Babson College defense limited No. 6/5 Middlebury College to just two second-half goals as the Beavers defeated the Panthers, 8-6, in non-conference men's lacrosse action Sunday afternoon at MacDowell Field.

Babson registered its third consecutive victory to improve to 4-2 on the season while Middlebury dropped its third straight game in the last five days and dropped to 1-3.

Fascilla turned in his fourth straight double-digit save performance to key the defense. Led by seniors Dillon Quinn (Spring Lake, N.J.) and Brendan Maher (Melrose, Mass.) and graduate student Chip Quinn (Catonsville, Md.), the Beaver defense kept the Panthers off the scoreboard for a stretch of more than 20 straight minutes. Chip Quinn picked up a team-high five ground balls and the Green and White held the visitors to just 15 second-half shots.

First-year Seamus Rooney (Bay Shore, N.Y.) scored two of his game-high three goals in the fourth quarter for Babson while senior Topher Bower (Chicago, Ill.) also finished with three points on a goal and two assists. Graduate student Jared Rainville (Watertown, Conn.) and senior Jacob Tauss (San Marcos, Calif.) contributed a goal and an assist each, and first-year Luke Wang (Simsbury, Conn.) and sophomore Tyee Ambrosh (Danvers, Mass.) both scored their first career goal in the win. Graduate student James Turco (Woodbury, N.Y.) also won 8-of-13 faceoffs for the Beavers.

Junior Billy Curtis (Beverly Farms, Mass.) tallied two goals and an assist and sophomore Logan White (Parker, Colo.) scored twice for the Panthers. Junior Russell Thorndike (Brookline, Mass.) and senior Jake Peluso (Cornwall, Vt.) netted one goal each and junior William Munroe (Wayland, Mass.) for 8-of-16 faceoffs. Sophomore goalie Hayden Kern (Austin, Texas) made his presence known with nine saves, two caused turnovers, and five ground balls.

Curtis scored the first goal of the game for Middlebury three minutes in before Wang answered for Babson with his first goal a minute later. Peluso and Curtis went back-to-back for the Panthers as the visitors finished the first quarter with a 3-1 lead.

Ambrosh fired in his first goal for Babson four minutes into the second quarter before White answered with his first goal for Middlebury with 5:40 to go in the half. Rainville scored for the Beavers a minute later and Rooney tallied a man-up marker with three minutes on the clock as the teams went into the break tied at 4-4.

A defensive third quarter saw only one goal for either team, a man-up goal by Tauss midway through the frame. Middlebury started the fourth quarter with a man-advantage, capitalizing with White's second goal to break the 20-minute drought and tie the game at 5-all. Rooney gave Babson the lead for good with 10:31 remaining and fired in a man-up goal with 6:44 to play to push the Beavers to a two-goal advantage. Bower tacked on a Babson goal with 4:40 to play and Thorndike rounded out the scoring with 3:54 remaining.

Babson scored on all three of its man-up opportunities while holding Middlebury to 1-of-5. Middlebury finished with narrow advantages in shots (39-34), ground balls (28-25) and faceoffs (9-8), and the teams were fairly even in clears (Babson 20-of-24, Middlebury 18-of-22).

The Beavers open New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play on Saturday, hosting Springfield at 1 p.m. at MacDowell Field. Middlebury returns home looking to regroup on Saturday against Bates at 1 p.m.

GAME NOTES
• Babson recorded its first win in five games in the all-time series against Middlebury dating back to 1981.
• The six goals allowed by the Green and White matches the half dozen Panther goals against No. 1 Tufts in the NESCAC title game and against No. 3 RIT in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals last year, the fewest scored by Middlebury since a 9-3 loss at St. Lawrence on March 12, 2019.
• The Beavers are 1-2 against nationally ranked teams this spring, with a two-goal win over Middlebury (ranked No. 6 by the USILA and No. 5 by Inside Lacrosse) and a pair of 14-13 losses to No. 11/13 Union and No. 19 Williams.