Men's Soccer 8/31/2022 12:00:00 AM

Men's Soccer Heads to the Garden State to Face Rutgers-Newark and TCNJ

Men's Soccer vs. Rutgers-Newark
Saturday, September 3 | 7:30 p.m.
Lions Stadium | Ewing, N.J.

Men's Soccer vs. The College of New Jersey
Sunday, September 3 | 3 p.m.
Lions Stadium | Ewing, N.J.

SERIES HISTORY
vs. Rutgers-Newark
• The Beavers are 0-2-0 all-time against the Scarlet Raiders in a series that dates back to 2014.
• Babson dropped a 2-0 decision to Rutgers-Newark in the first round of the 2014 NCAA Tournament and lost a 3-2 verdict in the second game of the 2016 regular season in Babson Park.
vs. TCNJ
• The Beavers are 1-1-0 all-time against the Lions in a series that dates back to 1991.
• Babson lost to TCNJ (then Trenton State), 3-1, in the 1991 NCAA Tournament semifinals, but captured a 2-0 victory over the Lions at the 2012 Richard Stockton Seashore Classic in Galloway, N.J.

LAST MEETING
vs. Rutgers-Newark
• Fabio De Sousa scored the go-ahead goal in the 64th minute as visiting Rutgers-Newark defeated Babson, 3-2, on September 3, 2016 at Hartwell-Rogers Field.
• De Sousa and Sebastian Gostynski both finished with a goal and an assist for the Scarlet Raiders.
• Jackson Greenspan '19 and Alex Crompton '20 each scored their first career goals for the Beavers.
TCNJ
• No. 10 Babson scored a goal in each half en route to a 2-0 victory over TCNJ in the opening game of the Richard Stockton Seashore Classic on September 7, 2012.
• Kevin Israel '14 gave the Beavers the lead in the 41st minute, and classmate Salo Guindi '13 added an insurance tally in the 79th minute.
• Goalkeeper Stephen Donato '16, making just the second start of his career, stopped five shots to record the win and his first career shutout.

HEAD COACHES
• Babson is led by 37th-year head coach Jon Anderson, who has led the Beavers to a 428-194-77 record (.667) in 36 seasons. Anderson ranks fifth among active Division III coaches and 19th all-time with 428 wins, and has led Babson to 14 conference championships and 18 NCAA Tournament appearances.
• Rutgers-Newark is guided by 16th-year head coach Kevin East, who has recorded a 317-165-33 career mark (.702) in 24 seasons with the Scarlet Raiders and New Jersey City (1998-2006). He has led Rutgers-Newark to four NCAA Tournament appearances, one NJAC Championship (2017) and two ECAC titles (2011, 2015).
• TCNJ is led by 28th-year head coach George Nazario, who has compiled a 252-185-55 record and 14 winning seasons. Nazario led TCNJ to an NCAA Division III Championship in his second season (1996) and a runner-up finish in 1997, and has taken the program to four NCAA Tournament appearances.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• Babson (0-0) returns eight starters and 28 veterans from last year's squad that finished 12-5-3 overall and 4-1-2 in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play. The Beavers staged a second-half rally to upend MIT, 4-1, in the NEWMAC championship game and knocked off Cabrini, 2-1, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to eventual national runner-up Amherst, 3-0, in the second round.
• The Beavers welcome back three All-Region standouts in seniors Liam Hanlon, Mitchell Collins and Eamon Keenan, and those three along with senior Jack Dugan were All-Conference first team performers a year ago.
• The Beaver defense is anchored by Hanlon, a former NEWMCA Rookie of the Year who has been first team All-Conference center back the past two years as well as All-Region third team in '19 and first team in '21, and Keenan, first team All-Conference and second team All-Region a year ago. They backboned the team to a 0.62 goals against average in '21, 14th-best in Division III. They have also combined for 12 goals and seven assists in their careers.
• The offense returns Dugan (3-4-10), who was named first team All-Conference midfielder after leading the team in scoring, and Collins (2-3-7), a two-time first team All-Conference forward and a first team All-Region honoree in '21.

SCOUTING THE SCARLET RAIDERS
• Rutgers-Newark (0-0) returns a trio of all-conference honorees from a squad that finished 14-5-4 overall and second in the NJAC last season (5-1-3) and advanced to the NJAC Tournament semifinals and the ECAC Tournament final.
• The Scarlet Raiders earned a first-round bye in the NJAC Tournament but got knocked out by Kean on penalty kicks in the semifinals. They earned an ECAC Tournament berth, defeating Westminster (3-0) and Penn State Behrend (4-2) before falling to Muhlenberg (3-1) in the title match.
• Rutgers-Newark welcomes back the conference's leading scorer, reigning Offensive Player of the Year Franco Catania, who amassed 45 points on 20 goals and five assists. Sophomore Jonah Dias will anchor the Raiders' defense once again after earning NJAC First Team honors and helping the back line limit opponents to just over a goal a game.
• All-Conference pick Joe Alba is back and will lead the midfield unit; he set up four goals last season to rank among the conference's top 10 in assists.

SCOUTING THE LIONS
• TCNJ (0-0) is coming off an 8-10-1 campaign in 2021 (4-4-1 in the NJAC) that included the program's first conference tournament appearance since 2015.
• The Lions have three all-conference players back, including the top two scorers. Leading scorer Justin Dominique returns after amassing 26 points on 12 goals and two assists. He ranked tied for third in the NJAC in goals and fourth in points, while ranking tied for second in the conference with five game-winning goals.
• All-Conference midfielder Luke Pascarella returns after finishing second on last year's squad with 15 points on five goals and five assists. Joe Schlageter will anchor the back line after earning all-conference accolades last year; he saw over 1600 minutes on the pitch and contributed a goal and assist.

BEAVER TRANSFERS
• Babson welcomes three transfers from Division I schools – Ben Williams (Bryant), Ryan Kim (UMass) and Louis Gazo (Vermont).
• Williams played four season at Bryant, starting 43 of 47 matches, and led the team in scoring in both 2021 (7g-1a-15p) and 2020-21 (4-0-8) and produced 20 goals and five assists for 45 points in his career.
• Kim played two seasons at UMass as a midfielder, starting six of his 18 matches. Gazo spent two seasons at UVM but did not see any game action.

SEASON OPENERS
• Babson has won its last two season openers, gone 4-0-1 in its last five, and posted a 13-3-1 in the first game of the season dating back to 2004.
• The Beavers blanked Dean, 2-0, last year in the debut at Hartwell-Rogers Field and shut out Western New England, 1-0, in the 2019 opener. The last loss on opening day for the Green and White was a 3-0 setback at Eastern Connecticut back in 2015.

PRESEASON POLLS
• The two-time defending champion Beavers were picked to defend their NEWMAC championship when the preseason coaches' poll was released on Monday. Babson, which has won or shared eight of the past 13 regular season titles and seven of the 13 tournament crowns, received six out of eight first-place votes to finish ahead of runner-up MIT.
• Rutgers-Newark was picked to finish runner-up in the NJAC preseason coaches' poll, which was released last week. The Scarlet Raiders finished behind defending champion and 23rd-ranked Montclair State, which enters the season ranked No. 23 in the United Soccer Coaches' national preseason poll. TCNJ wound up eighth in the NJAC poll, just ahead of William Paterson and behind Rutgers-Camden.

NON-CONFERENCE SLATE
• Babson will face four teams that appeared in the 2021 NCAA Tournament, including three of the eight quarterfinalists and both teams that squared off in the national championship game.
• The Green and White will host defending national runner-up Amherst on September 20 in a rematch of last year's NCAA second-round encounter; visit 2021 NCAA quarterfinalist and 2018 and 2019 national champion Tufts on September 27; travel to defending national champion Connecticut College on October 12; and head to Eastern Connecticut on October 18.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Beavers went 11-0-1 last season when scoring the first goal of the game. They are 34-4-3 after scoring first since 2018, and 87-11-6 going back to 2013.
• Babson went 7-0 when scoring at least two goals last season, and is 41-3 since the start of 2016 when scoring at least twice.
• The Green and White were 8-0-2 when shutting out the opponent last season and have gone 25-0-5 when putting up a clean sheet going back to 2018.

UP NEXT
• The Beavers return to New England and will play at Brandeis next Saturday, September 10, before the home opener vs. Williams on Sunday, September 11, at Hartwell-Rogers Field.

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