WELLSELEY, Mass. – Senior Joe Tebano (Glastonbury, Conn.) scored his first goal of the season, giving Saint Anselm a 1-0 lead, but the Hawks fell to 11th-ranked Babson College, 3-1, Friday evening as they opened up the 2013-14 campaign.
With the loss, Saint Anselm will begin the season at 0-1 overall and 0-1 in the ECAC Men's East, while the Beavers move to 2-0, 1-0 ECAC Men's East on the young season.
The first period saw no scoring and shots were tied at seven apiece. The Hawks missed the boat on a pair of power-play opportunities, while Babson was 0-for-1 with the extra skater.
Saint Anselm broke the scoreless draw at 7:30 of the second period as junior Sean Jenkins (Boston, Mass.) sent a feed across the top of the circles to Tebano and he sniped from the left circle into the back of the right side. Also assisting on the tally was junior Johnny Daniels (Andover, Mass.).
Babson wasted no time gaining the equalizer, however, as Dan Casey received a pass from Matt Franklin across the top of the crease and chipped it in at the right post, leveling the score 1-1 just 1:33 later.
Babson doubled up on the Hawks at 16:09 of the middle period as Michael Phillips chipped in a short pass from Troy Starrett making it a 2-1 game.
The Hawks did have a chance for the lead at the 12-minute mark of period two as Jenkins skated away from the pack on a breakaway and lobbed the puck over the shoulder of Babson goaltender Jamie Murray, before be batted it away at the last second.
Babson struck for the third time at 6:19 of the final period as Andrew Bonazza connected with Nik Tasiopoulos on a power play and beat Saint Anselm senior netminder Nick Dries (Commerce Township, Mich.).
Dries made 27 saves, while Murray stopped 22 of 23 shots on goal. Overall, Saint Anselm was 0-for-4 on the power-play, while Babson was 1-for-2.
The Hawks will return to action Saturday, Nov. 9 as they travel to No. 12 UMass Boston for a 4:30 p.m. contest at the Clark Athletics Center. Stay up-to-date with the latest news, including game previews and recaps, directly from the Saint Anselm College athletic department by liking us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/STAHawks) and following us on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/STAHawks).
