Rotch Field was the scene for a hard-fought Saturday game between the No. 18 Babson Beavers and the unranked Emerson Lions.
The Lions ultimately struggled at both ends of the field, leading to a disappointing 3-0 loss.
“As a staff and a team, we didn’t quite solve the problems correctly, and we didn’t compete at the level that we needed to,” Head Coach Liam McKersie said after the game.
The game started off evenly, with both Emerson and Babson having two or three early shots on goal but no luck finding the back of the net. Thirteen minutes into the game, Babson narrowly missed the goal, hitting the side post. Emerson quickly countered, earning Senior Thomas Chuaqui a shot on goal on Babson’s end of the field, but the Babson keeper stopped it. This back-and-forth continued through the first half, entering halftime 0-0.
Babson came out kicking in the second half, earning the first goal of the game in the 46th minute. Emerson saw a few offensive attacks and strong defensive moments, but Babson scored again in the 60th minute. Within 60 seconds, the Beavers found the back of the net for their third and final time, securing their 3-0 win over the Lions.
Emerson had 11 shots during the game with eight of those being on goal. Beckett Hobbs, Emerson’s first-year keeper, out-saved the Babson goalie two-to-one with 16 total saves through the game.
Hobbs said the team’s focus—both during the game and moving forward—is to find ways to pick themselves up after getting knocked down.
“When they got one early in the second half, it definitely impacted our team, but we ground down and tried to respond the whole time,” he said. “The belief is always there and we’re going to bounce back next time.”
Coach McKersie also thought the tough fought game was important to take as a learning moment.
“We fortunately have five more NEWMAC games, and we have to be able to learn from this,” said McKersie.
After the hard-fought 45 minutes in the first half of the game, the Lions effectively lost the game in just 15 minutes in the second half. McKersie pointed to slowing things down and being proactive as areas to improve on moving forward.
“We were a little bit too reactive whereas [Babson] was emotionally and physically more on the front foot,” he said.
As the team looks toward their next games, they do so with drive. Hobbs said the team is “going in with a lot of excitement and are going to use this [game] as fuel.”
The Lions played Westfield State on Tuesday, Oct. 3rd, winning 3-0. They are set to play Tufts University at Tufts on Saturday, Oct. 7th at 1 p.m. Their next NEWMAC game will be Saturday, Oct. 14 against MIT at Rotch Field.
