BABSON PARK, Mass. — Officially, St. Joseph’s edged Babson on Rory Twomey’s goal in the fourth round of penalty kicks in Saturday’s first round of the NCAA Division III men’s soccer tournament.

Unofficially, the Monks won when keeper Blake Mullen robbed Ian Fromhein in the sixth minute of the first sudden-death overtime period.

“That was a big-time save,” Monks Coach Adrian Dubois said after his team prevailed, 4-2, on penalty kicks following a scoreles regulation and overtime. “That’s not an easy save to make for any goalkeeper at any level. His reactions throughout the year have been incredible.”

St. Joe’s (16-1-5) advances to Sunday’s second round to face Brandeis, which beat Western New England College 2-1 in overtime on Saturday, at 1 p.m. Babson finishes at 11-6-3.

“This guy’s development has been top notch since day one.” Dubois added regarding Mullen. “He was raw when we first got him. The goalkeeping coach has been working with him a ton and he’s developed into a fine, fine goalkeeper. I consider myself a pretty good player and even I have a tough time scoring goals on him.”

Fromhein was positioned in the box when he snapped off a header that was on its way to the left corner. But Mullen (six saves), the Great Northeast Athletic Conference goalkeeper of the year, dove and punched away what would have been the game-winning goal for Babson.

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“I saw it developing,” Mullen said. “As soon as that ball came in I knew I was either going to have to make a save or my defense was going to clear it. As soon as it went down to the right I was going to be right there.

“I wasn’t planning on letting any goals in today. I want to keep clean sheets, keep our team in the game until we score.”

After playing 110 minutes of scoreless soccer, Babson Coach Jon Anderson changed keepers for the shootout, replacing starter Austin Mankouski with Steven Heintzelman.

Froheim and the Monks Brett Mattos exchanged goals in the first round before Joe McWeeney scored for the Beavers and Dalton Gaumer scored for the Monks in the second round..

In the third round, Babson’s Kofi Abankroh hit the crossbar and Noah Robinson of St. Joe’s lined a shot into the lower-right corner for a 3-2 lead.

Mullen again came up big in the fourth round. He deflected an Adam Villari shot off the crossbar, setting the stage for Twomey who clinched the win by picking the lower-right corner.

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“During the prior PKs I saw that the goalie really wasn’t reacting to the kicks,” Twomey said. “He was just diving to one side. I thought I could set him up a different way with one shot and it went in.”

The Monks emphasis on defense is underscored by the fact Mullen now has 13 shutouts and that the team has allowed a mere seven goals.

Credit also must go to Monks defenders like Ryan Buonaiuto, James Stevens and Andrew Pereira.

As a result, the Monks are unbeaten over their last 20 games.

“It’s wild because the guys are working hard together,” Dubois said.

“There isn’t any arrogance. They know they have a game to battle through and work hard. They’ve been successful because of all 33 guys working hard including the coaching staff.”


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