Beavers Punch Ticket to First NCAA Tournament since 1979 with First Conference Tournament Championship

NEW LONDON, Conn.—Senior John Calicchio (Gulfstream, Fla.) and junior Ryan Donovan (Cohasset, Mass.) each scored three times and first-year Grey Sunderland (Bellevue, Wash.) won 18-of-24 face-offs to help second-seeded Babson College defeat the top-seeded Coast Guard Academy, 15-7, in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament final on Saturday afternoon at Cadet Memorial Field.

With the win, Babson (5-0) claimed the program's first NEWMAC Tournament championship and punched its ticket to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1979. Coast Guard likely sees its season come to a close at 4-1.

Graduate student Sean Smith (Pasadena, Calif.) and senior Lee Sipes (Windham, N.H.) both finished with two goals and an assist, while sophomore Chi Chi Price (Hingham, Mass.) scored twice for the Beavers. Sunderland led all players with eight ground balls, NEWMAC Tournament Most Outstanding Player, senior John Antaya (Duxbury, Mass.), added four ground balls, and classmate Mac Mowat (Bellevue, Wash.) made eight of his season-high 12 saves in the second half for Babson.

Sophomore Caleb Holdridge (Waterford, Conn.) scored three times and senior Will Iorio (Weaverville, N.C.) finished with two goals and two assists to lead the Bears. Senior Tom Uhl (River Vale, N.J.) led all players with three caused turnovers and sophomore Dan Lucas (Weston, Conn.) made 14 saves in the loss.

The Green and White led 2-1 after one thanks to goals by Sipes and Donovan and pushed its lead to 4-1 on tallies by Price and senior Reed Goldstein (Minneapolis, Minn.) with 12:43 to go in the second quarter. Iorio scored off the ensuing face-off for Coast Guard, but the Beavers responded with a four-goal run that included markers by Price, senior Ethan Carpenter (Orlando, Fla.), Smith and Calicchio to extend their margin to 8-2 with 2:30 to go before halftime.

Donovan scored for the second time less than a minute into the third quarter and Babson answered a goal by sophomore Gaige Kruger (Coronado, Calif.) with five consecutive tallies over a span of 11-plus span to blow the game open. Sipes scored at the 8:20 mark and setup another tally by Calicchio to make it 11-4 just over two minutes later, senior Alex Lesher (Scottsdale, Ariz.) scored off Donovan's lead at 2:05 and Donovan completed his hat trick with 59 seconds to go in the stanza for a 13-4 lead.

Smith notched his second goal of the afternoon to cap the run just over three minutes into the fourth to give Babson its biggest lead of the game at 14-4, and Calicchio tacked on his third marker of the contest with 8:46 left.

The Beavers outshot Coast Guard 51-40 and held a 33-21 edge in ground balls. Babson also won 19-of-25 face-offs, which includes gaining possession on 13-of-15 in the second and third quarters.

Babson will find out where it is headed for the opening round of the NCAA Tournament when the pairings announced Sunday at 9 p.m. on NCAA.com.

GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are now 4-2 all-time against Coast Guard.
• Babson has now won its last 15 games when allowing nine goals or less, a streak that extends back to the start of the 2019 campaign.
• Saturday's tournament final appearance was the eighth in program history for the Beavers.
• Babson has outscored its five opponents 45-13 in the first half this season.