NEWTON, Mass. (10/30/13) – The Lasell College men's soccer team closed out their 2013 regular season with a 2-1 victory over Babson College on the strength of a pair of goals by senior Mike Skelton (Conway, N.H.). The Lasers finish the regular season 13-3-1 while Babson slips to 10-7-1 for the year.
Lasell honored their seniors prior to the match, as nine members of the program were playing their final regular season home contest at Taylor Field. They honored, Eddie Roman (Revere, Mass.), Sokol Bako (Roslindale, Mass.), Nery Guerra (Guatemala City, Guatemala), Cedric Dybaud (Quincy, Mass.), Alex Parent (Easthampton, Mass.), Mike Skelton, Jared Lewis (Haverhill, Mass.), Lawrence Fagan (Weymouth, Mass.), and Brennen Adams (Southbury, Conn.)
Skelton celebrated "Senior Day" by setting a new Lasell College record for goals in the season with his 15th and 16th scores of the season, breaking the previous record of 15 that he set during the 2011 season.
Kevin Israel (Lafayette Hill, Pa.) scored the lone goal for the visitors and Justin Laurenzo (Park Ridge, N.J.) notched an assist in the contest for Babson.
Lasell opened the scoring in the 8th minute when Nery Guerra pushed the ball toward the endline just inside the 18-yard box before slipping a cross to the feet of Brennen Adams at the edge of the 6-yard box. Adams played a back-heel flick over to Skelton who slotted home to put Lasell ahead 1-0.
Israel helped Babson draw level in the 32nd minute of action when Laurenzo drove the top of the 6-yard box and found Israel unmarked on the back post for the equalizing score, making it 1-1.
The two teams went into the break tied, as the score reflected the evenly played first half. Babson outshot the hosts in the first half, 9-8 while the Lasers held a 4-0 edge in corners.
Lasell broke the deadlock 2:17 into the second half when a long ball from Servi Barrientos (Providence, R.I.) created a chance for Skelton. Skelton out muscled a Babson defender and chipped the visitors closing keeper for his second goal of the match and 16th of the season. The goal was also the 49th of the senior forwards career, tying the all-time record for goals scored in a career held by Zach Gagne '08.
Lasell held off some quality chances for Babson to capture the 2-1 victory despite being outshot 23-17 for the contest.
Lasell keeper Miguel Colmenares (Caracas, Venezuela) made eight saves to earn his 13th won of the season despite seeing his streak of clean sheets snapped at four. Jackson Klein (Maplewood, N.J.) had a solid performance in net for Babson, saving six shots in the loss.
Babson will close out their regular season slate on Saturday November 2nd with a 1:00 p.m. tilt at home against NEWMAC foe Emerson College. Lasell will open postseason play on Sunday November 3rd when they host Rivier University at 1:30 p.m. in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference quarterfinals.