No. 13/15 Men's Soccer vs. Emerson
NEWMAC Tournament Final
Saturday, November 5 | 1 p.m.
Hartwell-Rogers Field | Babson Park, Mass.
SERIES HISTORY
• Babson is 9-0-0 all-time against Emerson in a series that dates back to 2013.
• The Beavers are 4-0-0 all-time at home and have outscored the Lions 27-2 over their previous nine matchups.
POSTSEASON HISTORY
• Saturday's match will be the first between Babson and Emerson in the postseason.
LAST MEETING
• Senior Ryan Grund and junior Shamar Rainford scored in the first half and senior Ross Shellow added an insurance goal in the 53rd minute as the Beavers handed Emerson its first loss of the season, 3-1, on September 24 in Babson Park.
• Graduate student Ryan Goss, seniors Mitchell Collins and Eamon Keenan and junior Liam Rhatigan all recorded an assist for the Beavers.
• Graduate student Skyler Stark Ragsdal scored in the 77th minute and Matthew Mueller made three saves for the Lions.
SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• No. 13/15 Babson (14-3-2), which is first in the NCAA Region II rankings, advanced to the conference tournament final for the fourth consecutive season with a dramatic 1-0 win over fifth-seeded Wheaton on Thursday afternoon.
• Junior Louis Gazo broke the scoreless deadlock with just 46 seconds left in regulation for the Beavers, who got six saves from sophomore goalkeeper Walker White.
• Graduate student Ben Williams (11-3-25) is second in the conference in both goals and points, Gazo (6-7-17) has scored four game-winning markers, and Collins (3-8-14) and Goss (1-8-10) are tied for the NEWMAC lead in assists.
• White has started all 19 matches and boasts a 0.83 goals against average and a .791 save percentage to go along with five solo and five combined shutouts.
SCOUTING THE LIONS
• Second-seeded Emerson (10-2-6) advanced to its first NEWMAC Tournament final by outlasting third-seeded MIT on penalty kicks following a 3-3 OT draw on Thursday night.
• Bo Feekins tied the game in the 103rd minute and Ragsdal converted the clinching penalty for the Lions, who were reduced to 10 men following a red card in the 82nd minute.
• Junior Thomas Chuaqui scored the opening goal of Thursday's win, sophomore Gregory Kopanezos (5-0-10) leads the team with two game-winning markers, and first-year Chris Moulinos has contributed four goals and two assists for 10 points this fall.
• Sophomore Ethan Fitzsimmons, who made a season-high 11 saves in Thursday's win, is 6-1-6 in 13 starts with a 0.91 goals against average and a .846 save percentage to go along with five shutouts.
BEAVERS IN THE POSTSEASON
• Babson, which has won nine conference tournament championships under legendary head coach Jon Anderson '75 since 2002, is making its sixth championship game appearance since 2014 on Saturday.
• The Beavers have claimed seven titles in nine tries since 2008 and are 9-4-1 in the 14 NEWMAC championship game appearances since 1998.
• Babson also is looking to become the first program to win three straight NEWMAC titles since it achieved the feat from 2008-10.
WILLIAMS CLAIMS FINAL NEWMAC OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONOR
• Thanks to a four-goal week, Williams was selected as the league's offensive player of the week for the second time this season on Monday.
• He scored twice inside of nine minutes in an October 25 victory over Bridgewater State and recorded his third brace of the year in Saturday's 3-0 win over Springfield.
TOURNAMENT TESTED
• Goss, Collins, Grund, Keenan, Shellow and fellow seniors Liam Hanlon, Jack Dugan, RJ Parrilla, and Rodrigo Madiedo have all played major roles in Babson's back-to-back NEWMAC titles and NCAA Tournament appearances in 2019 and 2021.
• Collins, Hanlon and Shellow have started all 10 of the Beavers' postseason matches going back to 2018, while Keenan and Parrilla have been part of the starting XI in all eight conference and NCAA Tournament games since 2019.
• Keenan has scored four goals in seven postseason contests, while Dugan, Hanlon and Grund, who tallied the OT game winner against Wheaton in the 2019 NEWMAC semifinals, all have one postseason marker on their ledger.
MOVING UP THE CHARTS
• Collins became the 26th player in program history to reach the 50-point mark with his assist on Gazo's 90th-minute goal on Thursday against Wheaton. career points and is one shy of becoming the 26th player in program history to produce 50 points. His 20 career assists are also tied for 14th all-time in program history.
• The 11 goals scored by Williams this season are the most by a Babson player since 2014 when Justin Laurenzo '15 tallied 15 times in 2014.
• Goss and Collins both have recorded eight assists this fall, which is the highest total by a Babson player since 2014 when Tyler Carlos '16 helped set up nine goals.
STREAKING BEAVERS
• Babson's current six-game winning streak is its longest since 2018 when it ran off six consecutive wins from October 13-November 1.
• The Beavers have won 11 straight games against NEWMAC opponents, which is the second longest current conference winning streak in Division III behind only Messiah, which has beaten 62 consecutive MAC Commonwealth opponents.
• The Green and White has won its last six home matches against league opponents.
NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Green and White has kept five consecutive clean sheets and has not conceded a goal in 505:03 going back to the first half of a 3-1 win at WPI on October 15.
• Babson is 8-1-1 at home this season.
• The Beavers are 14-0 on the year when scoring the first goal of the match and 9-0-0 when leading at halftime.
• Babson is 13-0-2 this fall and unbeaten over its last 19 games when allowing one goal or fewer.
• The Green and White is 11-0 this fall and has won 18 consecutive matches when scoring two or more goals.
