Box Score WELLESLEY, Mass. – In 1982, the Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team had a 21-game winning streak halted in the final week of the regular season, then responded in post-season competition by winning its first national championship.
The Eastern men's soccer team is hoping for a similar fate after losing for the first time this year in this, the final week of the regular season, 1-0 in double overtime at Babson College Sunday afternoon at Hartwell-Rogers Field.
With two matches left in the regular season, Eastern (14-1-1) was bidding to become the third team in program history to record an unbeaten regular season – first in 43 years – but senior midfielder Salo Guindi scored the game's only goal in the 102nd minute as Babson (12-3-2) prevailed for its eighth home win in nine outings this season.
Eastern is ranked fourth in New England (25th nationally) and Babson eighth. The only blemishes on Babson record thus far have come at the hands of teams ranked second, third and seventh in New England. Until Saturday, the only mark against the Warriors' perfect record had been a 1-1 double-overtime Little East Conference road tie at Keene State College.
Each had was playing its second match in as many days Sunday, the Warriors having shot out the University of Southern Maine in a Little East Conference match Saturday at home by a 3-0 score, and Babson having played Springfield College to a scoreless double-overtime draw in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference play Saturday at Springfield, MA.
Babson ended the match one minute into the second ten-minute OT session. The play began when senior Jimmy Stento hit a pass from deep on the left side back toward the right side of the goal mouth. Guindi then hit a rocket off the bounding ball that sailed past the outstretched arms of Eastern senior keeper Jordan Munsell (Waterford) and into the upper left corner for his third goal of the season. The goal snapped Babson's scoreless streak of over 324 minutes – the program's longest since 1986 – and it halted Munsell's shutout streak of 533 minutes and 53 seconds minutes spanning five games.
All five of the matches in this series have been decided by one goal, the Warriors winning the first three – the first coming in the 1969 NAIA New England Tournament during Eastern's most recent unbeaten season -- and Babson the last two.
Each team had a single shot in the first overtime session. Eastern's came when junior midfielder Zach Kice (Denver, CO) got behind the Babson's backfield and hit a glancing shot from ten yards out, but Babson junior keeper Jackson Klein corralled it inside the right post at 93:29. Babson's lone bid came at 98:41, when Stento had his shot off a loose ball at the top of the 22-yard bubble sail over the net.
The Warriors had one final chance at the victory just seconds after the start of the second overtime, as junior midfielder Mitch Power (Douglas, MA) found space in the middle of the field off the opening kickoff. He then fired a shot from 25 yards away, but it deflected off a teammate and went wide of the left post.
Both teams missed opportunities on early corner kicks, as Eastern senior Matt Furman (Montville) had his glancing header off a Cory Tobler (Portland) corner snatched up by Klein at 4:55, and Beavers' senior captain Eric Anderson had his header go well wide of the far right post off a corner kick from sophomore Brenden Matthews at 7:24.
Babson's best chance of the opening period came during a flurry in the 16th minute, beginning when sophomore Justin Laurenzo had his shot blocked in front. Matthews then fired a close-range shot toward the lower right corner on the rebound, but Munsell made a diving save to his left to knock the ball beyond the post at 15:45.
Eastern had a golden opportunity less than 10 minutes later, as a deflected cross settled just outside the six-yard box. Furman came charging in from the left side and was the first to reach the loose ball, but his sliding shot sailed well over the crossbar at 24:31. The Warriors then threatened again in the waning seconds of the half, but Beavers' junior Dillon Ventura took the ball off the foot of wide open junior Power deep in the box and junior Salvatore Percival blocked Kice's shot moments later as the contest remained scoreless heading into the break.
The Warriors had the first strong chance of the second stanza, as junior Tom Vear (Monson, MA) collected a loose ball just outside the box and blasted a shot on net from 20 yards out. Klein was able to make a fantastic diving deflection to his right, and the rebound was cleared away by the Babson defense.
The Beavers threatened numerous times over the remainder of regulation but would fail to snap the scoreless deadlock. Junior Kevin Israel had the first chance when he took a pass from Laurenzo and fired a bending shot from 25 yards out, but his bid hit the crossbar and was cleared by the defense at 67:15. Six minutes later, Israel was the recipient of a long cross from Guindi, but his leaping header from point-blank range drifted just wide of the upper right corner at 73:04.
Babson's best opportunity of the second half came at 78:46, when Anderson's flick off a Guindi cross made it past a sprawling Munsell. However, Warriors' senior back Bradley Fletcher (Middletown) was there to block the shot on the goal line, and the rebound was cleared away to preserve the scoreless tie.
The overtime match was the fifth this season for Babson, which won for the second time after tying two and losing one. Eastern lost in overtime for the first time after two victories and a tie.
Eastern has qualified for NCAA tournament play four times in five years under DeVito, reaching the second round of the tournament the last two years. Babson has reached NCAA play the last four seasons, advancing to the third round in both 2010 and 2011.
Eastern needs a victory over visiting Massachusetts Dartmouth on the final day of the regular season Saturday to wrap up its fourth Little East Conference regular-season title in six years under sixth-year head coach Greg DeVito.
