Box Score (Box
Score)
BABSON PARK, Mass. - Sophomore Billy Nickerson
(Middleton, Mass.) and senior Dan Fogarty (Brookline, N.H.) 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 (Manchester, Conn.) fed Nickerson on a
breakaway up the middle of the field. Nickerson then slid a shot
past diving Plymouth State keeper Bjorn Ohlsson
(Halmstad, Sweden) and into the lower left corner.
PSU tied the game just over seven minutes later when sophomore
Eric Owens (Newton, N.H.) blocked an attempted
clear at the top of the Babson box. The ball then caromed to senior
Semir Mehmedovic (Zvornik, Bosnia), 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 (Scituate, Mass.) 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 (South Nyack,
N.Y.). Babson tacked on one more goal at the 79-minute mark as
freshman Patrick Rafferty (Brick, N.J.) headed in a cross from
classmate Brandon Masterson (Ellington, Conn.) for his first
collegiate goal.
Sophomore goalie Peter Crowley (Lexington, Mass.) 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.
(Courtesy of Babson Sports Information)
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