Men's Lacrosse vs. Clark
NEWMAC Tournament Semifinal
Saturday, May 1 | 7:30 p.m.
MacDowell Field | Babson Park, Mass.

	The Matchup
Avg. (NEWMAC Rank)	Category	Avg. (NEWMAC Rank)
18.67 (1st)	Scoring Offense	12.00 (3rd)
4.00 (1st)	Scoring Defense	12.33 (3rd)
33.3 (5th)	Man-Up Pct.	71.4 (1st)
70.5 (1st)	Face-Off Pct.	59.0 (2nd)
19.3 (4th)	Turnovers	18.3 (T-2nd)
46.7 (1st)	Ground Balls	30.7 (4th)
88.4 (1st)	Clear Pct.	80.0 (3rd)
63.6 (1st)	Save Pct.	56.5 (2nd)

THE SERIES
• Babson is 21-3 all-time against Clark in a series that dates back to 1994.
• The Beavers have dropped three of their last four games against the Cougars, which includes a pair of one-goal losses back in 2019.
• Since 2014, five of the seven games between Babson and Clark have been decided by a single goal, two of which finished in overtime.
• The March 27 season opener between the Beavers and Cougars was canceled due to COVID-19 protocols.

POSTSEASON HISTORY
• Babson and Clark will meet in the conference playoffs for the second postseason in a row on Saturday night.
• The Cougars won the only previous NEWMAC Tournament matchup between the teams in 2019.

LAST MEETING
• Graduate student Chris Rasco scored two of his game-high four goals early in the fourth quarter to help Clark edge Babson, 10-9, in a NEWMAC Tournament quarterfinal on April 30, 2019, in Worcester.
• Senior Ethan Carpenter had three goals and Samuel Mishkind '19 scored once and added two assists for the Beavers, who got 13 saves from Christopher Aranalde '20.
• Brandon King had two goals and graduate student Jack Mandracchia dished out four assists for the Cougars, who led 10-7 with 9:56 to go in the fourth quarter.

SCOUTING THE COUGARS
• Third-seeded Clark (2-1) won its final two games of the regular season and is coming off a 10-6 victory at Wheaton last Saturday.
• Rasco scored six goals and Mandracchia dished out a game-high three assists for the Cougars, who got 21 saves from sophomore Dylan Harloff.
• Rasco's 16 goals ranks second in the conference, senior Jacob Brandes (5-4-9) has recorded a pair of multi-goal games, and the duo of Mandracchia (0-9-9) and graduate student Andrew Hollerbach (1-7-8) both rank in the top of the NEWMAC in assists.
• Graduate student Bobby Philbin has won 69.6 percent of his face-offs and leads the team with 22 ground balls, while Harloff and junior Ryan Mickelson have combined to post a 12.33 goals against average and a .565 save percentage.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• Second-seeded Babson (3-0) claimed a share of the NEWMAC regular season title with a 15-5 win over Springfield last Saturday.
• Junior Peter Chisholm finished with four goals and one assist and graduate student Sean Smith and seniors Mason O'Hanlon and Alex Lesher each scored twice for the Beavers, who built a 9-3 halftime lead.
• Chisholm (11-1-12) and junior Ryan Donovan (6-6-12) are tied for fourth in the league in points, O'Hanlon (7-1-8) has produced three straight multi-goal games, and sophomore Chi Chi Price (6-1-7) is tied for seventh in the NEWMAC in goals.
• First-year Grey Sunderland ranks first in the conference in face-off winning percentage (.688) and second in ground balls (25), senior John Antaya leads the league with seven caused turnovers, and classmate Mac Mowat has posted a 4.00 goals against average and a .650 save percentage in three starts.

MAY LACROSSE RETURNS TO MACDOWELL
• The Beavers will play their first game in the month of May and first home playoff game since the 2016 NEWMAC Tournament semifinals on Saturday night.
• The Green and White is 5-1 at MacDowell Field in the conference playoffs going back to 2011, which includes a perfect 5-0 mark in the semifinal round.

LONG ARM OF THE LAW
• The trio of Antaya, senior Jack Tague and junior Drew Thomas played a major role in last week's win over Springfield by combining for 17 ground balls and eight caused turnovers.
• Antaya set new career highs with six caused turnovers and six ground balls, Thomas led all players with a career-high nine ground balls and Tague chipped in with two ground balls and one forced turnovers.
• Babson held the Pride to its lowest scoring output since a 15-4 loss to Union on March 9, 2018, while forcing them into a season-high 27 turnovers.

FLIPPING THE SCRIPT
• After winning less than 40 percent of their face-offs over three consecutive seasons between 2018-20, the Beavers enter the weekend ranked eighth in Division III having gained possession on 70.5 of their face-offs in three games this spring.
• Saturday's clash with Clark will be the toughest test of the season for Babson as the Cougars finished the 2019 campaign ranked 10th nationally in face-off-winning percentage (.687) behind Philbin, who ranked fourth in Division III winning 74.8 percent of his restarts.

CHASING HISTORY
• The Beavers, who can advance to the conference tournament final for the first time since 2016, are two wins away from reaching the NCAA Tournament since 1979.
• Babson is 4-2 in the conference semifinals since 2013 and reached the conference title game in four consecutive seasons from 2013-16.

BEAVER BITES
• Babson has won three consecutive games by 10 or more goals for the first time since at least 1995.
• The Green and White has generated more shots than its opponents in nine of 11 NEWMAC games going back to the start of 2019.
• The Beavers have committed fewer turnovers than its foes in 10 of 11 conference games since the start of 2019.

NUMBER TO KNOW
• The Beavers are 13-0 when allowing nine goals or less going back to the start of the 2019 campaign.
• Clark has scored at least 10 goals in each of its last 13 games dating back to April 2019.

WHAT'S NEXT
• The winner of Saturday's semifinal will face either top-seeded Coast Guard or fourth-seeded Wheaton in the NEWMAC Tournament final on Saturday, May 8.