Men's Soccer 10/24/2022 12:00:00 AM

Game Preview: No. 18/22 Men's Soccer vs. Bridgewater State

No. 18/22 Men's Soccer vs. Bridgewater State
Tuesday, October 25 | 3:00 p.m.
Hartwell-Rogers Field | Babson Park, Mass.

SERIES HISTORY
• The Beavers have won eight in a row against the Bears and own a 17-8-3 advantage in the all-time series that dates all the way back to 1955.
• Babson is 17-0-3 against Bridgewater State since 1990, including three overtime victories. BSU won the first eight meetings in the series between 1955 and 1958, when it was known as Bridgewater Teachers College.
• The Green and White have blanked the Bears in 10 of the last 12 meetings, outscoring the Red and White 24-3 in that span.

LAST MEETING
• Alex Crompton '20 and Youcef Ziad '20 both scored twice as visiting Babson defeated Bridgewater State, 5-0, on October 30, 2019, at Swenson Field.
• Luke Beaulieu '20 scored his first career goal in the second half, senior Mitchell Collins finished with two assists, and Steven Heintzelman '20 and Austin Mankouski '20 combined on a four-save shutout for the Beavers.
• Michael Da Silva '20 made five saves over the first 75 minutes before being replaced by senior William Russell, who stopped three shots over the final 15 minutes for the Bears.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• No. 18 United Soccer Coaches/No. 22 D3soccer.com Babson (11-3-2, 6-0-0 NEWMAC) has won three straight matches after a 1-0 victory over MIT Saturday that clinched its first conference regular season title since 2019.
• Sophomore keeper Walker White made five saves for his second straight shutout and fifth clean sheet this season. Senior Ross Shellow scored the only goal of the game in the 75th minute with an assist from graduate student Ben Williams.
• Williams (7-3-17) is second in the NEWMAC in goals and points, while sophomore Louis Gazo (5-5-15) is third in the conference in scoring and Collins (3-7-13) leads the league in assists.
• White is tied for the NEWMAC lead with four clean sheets and ranks fourth in save percentage (.770) and fifth in goals against average (0.94).

SCOUTING THE BEARS
• Bridgewater State (5-7-2, 3-2-1 MASCAC) brings a three-game winning streak to Babson after consecutive victories over Westfield State (4-2), UMass Dartmouth (3-1) and Mass Maritime (4-1).
• Junior David Nelson, sophomores Jack O'Toole and Justin Silva and senior Dan Rickson scored for the Bears in the win over Mass Maritime and sophomores Ethan Lafontant and Nicolas Matias collected two assists apiece. Russell turned aside five shots to record his fifth win of the season.
• Nelson (6-0-12) and senior Robson Montrond (4-3-11) are the team scoring leaders and senior Joseph Madden (0-4-4) tops the team in assists. Montrond, Silva and sophomore Carsten Boloz were All-MASCAC second team selections last year.
• Russell (1.39 GAA, .812 sv. pct., 82 svs.) has started all 14 games for the Bears and ranks fourth in the MASCAC in save percentage.

WEEKLY HONORS KEEP COMING
• White earned a weekly honor from the NEWMAC for the second time this season when he was named Defensive Athlete of the Week on Monday.
• The sophomore keeper was tremendous in two starts for the Beavers, posting a pair of shutouts as Babson picked up 1-0 road wins over Eastern Connecticut and MIT. He also earned the same honor back on October 3.

REGULAR SEASON TITLE
• With the win over MIT, Babson captured at least a share of the NEWMAC regular season crown for the third time in the last four seasons and fourth time in the last six years.
• The Green and White have won or shared a record 12 NEWMAC regular season titles.
• The Beavers have clinched home-field advantage in all conference tournament games, beginning with a semifinal match on November 3.

BEAVER BITES
• The Beavers have reached double figures in victories for the fourth straight season and the 17th time in the last 18 campaigns.
• Collins has 49 career points and is one shy of becoming the 26th player in program history to produce 50 points. His 19 career assists are also tied for 15th all-time in program history.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• Babson is ranked seventh in Division III in assists per game this fall with 2.81.
• The Beavers are 11-0 this season and 22-0-1 dating back to last year when scoring the first goal of the game.
• With five shutout victories this month, the Green and White are 10-0-2 this season when holding their opponent to one goal or less and are 46-4-11 since 2018 when keeping opponents under two goals.
• The Beavers are 7-0 this season and have won their 13 games going back to last year when leading at the half.

UP NEXT
• Babson wraps up the regular season Saturday at Hartwell-Rogers Field, hosting Springfield for a NEWMAC contest at 1 p.m.

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