BABSON PARK, Mass. — Sophomore Billy Nickerson and senior Dan Fogarty (Brookline) both made history on Sunday afternoon as Babson College defeated Plymouth State University, 5-1, in a non-conference matchup at Hartwell-Rogers Field.
Nickerson tied a 39-year program record with four goals in a game, while Fogarty notched two assists to become Babson's all-time leader with 36. Now with five wins in their last six contests, the Beavers, ranked ninth in New England by the NSCAA and 10th in the region by the NCAA, improve to 12-5-1 overall, while the Panthers sink to 9-7-0.
Entering the game with three goals on the year, Nickerson more than doubled his season total. His four goals tied the Beavers' program record set by Chaiyot Sasomsub, who scored four times against Stonehill on October 28, 1970. Nickerson's eight points also tied a school mark, matching Sasomsub's performance and Jonah Frisch's three-goal, two-assist game against Salve Regina on September 29, 2001.
Fogarty moved past Frisch and Dan Pucci into sole possession of first place on the Beavers' all-time list with his 35th career assist on Nickerson's second goal. He then tacked on another assist on Nickerson's third score.
Babson opened the scoring midway through the first half, as freshman Justin LeBlanc fed Nickerson on a breakaway up the middle of the field. Nickerson then slid a shot past diving Plymouth State keeper Bjorn Ohlsson and into the lower left corner.
PSU tied the game just over seven minutes later when sophomore Eric Owens (Newton) blocked an attempted clear at the top of the Babson box. The ball then caromed to senior Semir Mehmedovic (Franklin), who made a move around a trio of defenders and fired a shot into the lower left corner for his team-leading 15th goal of the season.
Nickerson put the game out of reach with an offensive flurry early in the second half, scoring three more goals in the opening 11:18. The first came at 47:42, when Fogarty hit a cross from the left side that freshman Eric Anderson headed across the goal mouth. Nickerson then hammered it over the line near the far post for his second of the contest.
Nickerson made it 3-1 less than a minute later, as he took a thru-ball from Fogarty in the midfield and placed a breakaway shot inside the left post at 48:39. The sophomore striker then capped off his performance at 56:18, as he placed a perfect header inside the far left post off a serve by junior Ben Meyerson. Babson tacked on one more goal at the 79-minute mark as freshman Patrick Rafferty headed in a cross from classmate Brandon Masterson for his first collegiate goal.
Sophomore goalie Peter Crowley finished with four saves in the win for Babson, while Ohlsson stopped seven shots in net for Plymouth State.
PSU wraps up the regular season next Saturday, hosting Eastern Connecticut State University in a key Little East Conference match-up on Senior Day at Panther Field.
Binghamton blanks UNH women's soccer
DURHAM — Emily Pape scored a contested goal in the seventh minute as the University of New Hampshire women's soccer team was narrowly beaten, 1-0, by Binghamton in its regular-season finale on Senior Day at Cowell Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The Wildcats close out the regular season at 4-13-1, including 3-5-0 in America East play, while the Bearcats finish 9-6-1 overall and 6-2-0 in the conference. UNH grabs the sixth seed for the America East Championship tournament that starts Thursday, and will take on No. 3 Maine at 2 p.m. Binghamton earns the No. 2 seed and has a bye to the semifinal round.
Just 6:43 into the contest, Binghamton scored the only goal it needed. Pape held the ball on the left side of the box before she fired a shot to the top left corner of the net that was just out of the reach of leaping senior goalkeeper Ally Yost and ricocheted off the bottom of the crossbar.
The ball never appeared to cross the goal line and came back out into the box where Yost scooped it up to apparently end the Binghamton threat. The linesman on the far side, however, ruled the ball broke the plane and officially scored it a goal.
In the 60th minute, nearly the exact scenario unfolded again, but no goal was signaled. At the 59:39 mark, Dani Raske blasted a shot from 30 yards out on the right that Yost jumped for, but could not punch away. The ball again caromed off the bottom of the crossbar and out into the box where the Wildcats cleared it out of danger.
UNH's best chance came in the 77th minute when freshman Monique Lamotte played a ball through the middle to senior Shaunna Kaplan. Binghamton goalkeeper Jen McEachron came out to play the ball and dove on it, but not before Kaplan kicked it loose. As Kaplan tracked the ball down and tried to settle it, however, McEachron had recovered and scooped up the ball as it rolled off Kaplan's foot.
Yost made four saves for the Wildcats, while McEachron stopped two shots for the Bearcats.
Binghamton held a 13-7 advantage in shots, while corner kicks were even at four apiece.
The game marked the final regular-season contest for seniors Morgan Keefe, Meg Wiley, Jenna Duncan, Alex Hastings, Yost and Kaplan.
