The Clark University men's lacrosse team was edged by the Beavers of Babson College in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) battle on Saturday afternoon. Prior to the game the Cougars recognized four graduating seniors playing in their final regular season home game: Will Roberts (Paxton, Mass.), A.J. James (Stamford, Conn.), Will Mandracchia (Melrose, Mass.), and Whit Merrit (Leverett, Mass.). HOW IT HAPPENED -Babson got on the board early with two first quarter goals. Naill Dillon (Duxbury, Mass.) put in the first goal of the day just 15 seconds into play and Brendan Duffy (Duxbury, Mass.) put away a feed from Taylor Segreti (North Potomac, Md.) at the 6:27 mark for the 2-0 lead. -Mandracchia got Clark on the board at the start of the second when he drilled one by Babson's goalkeeper to cut their deficit in half (2-1). -The Beavers used a face-off win to transition into another goal, this time from junior Samuel Mishkind (Chappaqua,N.Y.), to extend their lead back to two, 3-1 with 13:05 on the clock. -Mandracchia tallied his 100th career goal to bring the hosts back within one and just seconds later junior Brandon King (Eastham, Mass.) tied the game at three apiece when his classmate Jack Pierce (Westborough, Mass.) tossed him the ball and he launched one from the deep left side. -The Cougars outscored Babson 5-1 in the second quarter with another goal from King and an unassisted tally from Chris Rasco (Huntington, N.Y.) as they took the 5-3 lead heading into the halftime break. -Babson edged Clark in the third quarter, 3-2. The visitors started things off when senior Austin Fabel (East Rockaway, N.Y.) found room behind Nathan Maselek (Marblehead, Mass.) (5-4). Clark responded at the 7:01 mark when King notched his third goal of the day on a dish from Tyler Sullvan (Brunswick, Maine) to extend the lead back to two (6-4). Clark took their largest lead of the game on another King, Pierce combo in a man-up situation with 6:04 on the clock (7-4). -Babson notched two in the last five minutes of the quarter from first year Quinn Schomp (Duxbury, Mass.) and another from Mishkind for the 7-6 advantage heading into the final stanza. -Babson held off Clark for the final 15 minutes of play and put up two final goals to take home the 8-7 victory. INSIDE THE NUMBERS -King led the Cougars with four goals while Mandracchia added two. Sophomore Bobby Philbin (Ridgefield, Conn.) won 10-of-18 face-offs for Clark. Rasco picked up a game high six ground balls. Maselek made 13 saves in the setback. -Mishkind led Babson with two goals and an assist. Sophomore goalkeeper Christopher Aranalde (Rockville Center, N.Y.) made 14 saves in the victory and Kevin Klempner (Stuart, Fla.) won 7-of-9 face-offs. UP NEXT -Clark travels to Springfield College on Wednesday, April 25th for a NEWMAC tilt at 7:00 p.m. -Babson hosts MIT in conference action on the same day at 7:00 p.m.