Beavers Stay Unbeaten, Advance to First NEWMAC Final Since 2016

BABSON PARK, Mass.—Graduate student Sean Smith (Pasadena, Calif.) scored three times, while senior Lee Sipes (Windham, N.H.) and sophomore Chi Chi Price (Hingham, Mass.) added two goals apiece to help second-seeded Babson College defeat third-seeded Clark University, 13-8, in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament semifinal on Saturday night at MacDowell Field.

With the win, Babson (4-0) advances to its first conference championship game since 2016, while Clark sees its season come to a close at 2-2.

Junior Ryan Donovan (Cohasset, Mass.) and sophomore Nick Solomon (Glencoe, Ill.) both finished with a goal and an assist, while senior Reed Goldstein (Minneapolis, Minn.) chipped in with two assists to lead the Beavers. First-year Grey Sunderland (Bellevue, Wash.) won 11-of-24 face-offs and scooped up nine ground balls in the win.

Senior goalkeeper Mac Mowat (Bellevue, Wash.) finished with 10 saves for Babson.

Senior Jacob Brandes (Chappaqua, N.Y.) scored three times and graduate students Chris Rasco (Huntington, N.Y.) and Jack Mandracchia (Melrose, Mass.) added two goals apiece for the Cougars. Fellow grad student Bobby Philbin (Ridgefield, Conn.) won 14-of-24 face-offs and led all players with 12 ground balls in the loss. Junior Ryan Mickelson (Mattawan, Mich.) made 10 of his 14 saves in the first half for Clark

Down 1-0 nearly six minutes into the contest, the Green and White took control of the game with six consecutive goals to close the first quarter. Smith scored twice in the span of 68 seconds to put the hosts in front 2-1 at the 8:04 mark, and then followed up tallies by Donovan and Price with his third goal of the quarter to make it 5-1 with 3:21 to go in the stanza.

Solomon scored the final goal of the first and Price finished off a feed from senior John Antaya (Duxbury, Mass.) in transition to give Babson a 7-2 edge with 9:10 to go in the second. First-year Connor Karsh (Glenview, Ill.) and senior Quinn Schomp (Duxbury, Mass.) scored 1:12 apart to stretch the margin to 9-3, and Antaya answered a goal by Clark junior Steve Caione (Wingdale, N.Y.) with his first tally of the year off the ensuing face-off to make it 10-4 at the half.

Sipes gave Babson its biggest lead of the night at 12-5 with 3:40 to go in the third, and then answered Cougars' goals by Mandracchia and Brandes early in the fourth to keep the Green and White in front 13-7 with 6:03 left.

Babson will travel to top-seeded Coast Guard for the NEWMAC Tournament final next Saturday. Game time will be announced on Monday.

GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are now 22-3 all-time against Clark and snapped a two-game losing streak in the series with Saturday night's win.
• Prior to Saturday, five of the last seven games between the teams had been decided by a single goal.
• Babson is 5-2 in the conference semifinals going back to 2013.
• The Beavers are now 14-0 when allowing less than 10 goals going back to the start of the 2019 campaign.
• Babson is 6-1 at MacDowell Field in the conference playoffs going back to 2011.