Babson Park, Mass. - First-year Eric Anderson (Scituate, Mass.) scored the game-winning goal in the 58th minute and sophomore goalie Peter Crowley (Lexington, Mass.) made five saves to earn a shutout in his return to net as the Babson College Beavers defeated visiting Clark University, 1-0, in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) men's soccer contest at Hartwell-Rogers Field on Saturday afternoon.

With its third straight win, Babson improved to 4-2 overall and 1-0 in the conference, while the Cougars dipped to 4-2 overall and 0-1 in the NEWMAC.

After missing the team's first five games with an injury, Crowley was outstanding in his return to the Babson net, finishing with five saves. His best stop of the day came just 26 seconds in the contest, as he made a spectacular diving save to his right on a hard shot by Clark senior Jeremy Radovsky (San Francisco, Calif.). He would go on to make three more stops in the first half and another in the second as he earned his ninth career shutout.

First-year keeper Ryan King (Brimfield, Mass.) was also stellar in goal for Clark, finishing with five saves in defeat. His best stop came six minutes into the second half, when he made a diving save on a rocket by sophomore Billy Nickerson (Middleton, Mass.) that glanced off a defender and was redirected to his right.

Babson netted the only goal of the contest just under 58 minutes in, beginning when Nickerson made a rush down the left side, beat a defender, and sent a cross to the far corner of the box. Sophomore Jimmy Stento (Needham, Mass.) then collected it and had his first shot blocked by a defender, but he followed that up with a rocket that forced King to make a nice leaping save near the right post. The rebound caromed into the middle of the box, where Anderson headed it into a wide open net for his team-leading fourth goal of the season.

That would prove to be the difference, as Clark was denied in its only strong opportunity the rest of the way. With 21:50 remaining in regulation, Cougars' sophomore Trevor Hendry (Waterford, Conn.) headed a corner kick by junior Tim Doenmez (Dublin, N.H.) inside the right post. However, Babson junior back Garrett Guiles (Greene, N.Y.) was there to make a huge block on the goal line, and the Beaver defense was able to clear the rebound as the hosts held on for the eventual 1-0 victory.