Men's Soccer 9/19/2022 12:00:00 AM

Game Preview: No. 22/22 Men's Soccer vs. No. 2/11 Amherst

No. 22 Men's Soccer vs. No. 2 Amherst
Tuesday, September 20 | 4 p.m.
Hartwell-Rogers Field | Babson Park, Mass.

SERIES HISTORY
• Babson is 4-15-6 all-time against Amherst in a series that dates back to 1981.
• The Beavers and Mammoths have met just once in the regular season over the last two decades and will play for just the third time since 2003 on Tuesday.
• Babson is looking for its first victory in the series since 1994 against Amherst, which is unbeaten in 11 straight matches between the programs.

LAST MEETING
• Sebastian Derby scored in the second minute and tacked on a second-half assist to help Amherst defeat the Beavers, 3-0, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on November 14, 2021, in Babson Park.
• Junior Ada Okorogheye scored in the 42nd minute and sophomore Laurens ten Cate added another insurance marker in the 58th minute for the Mammoths, who went on to finish as the Division III runner-up after falling to Connecticut College in penalty kicks.
• Itai Rubin '22 finished with four saves for the Beavers.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• No. 22 Babson (4-1-1) is riding a three-game unbeaten streak and is coming off a 5-0 victory at Wheaton on Saturday.
• Graduate student Ben Williams and senior Samuel Smith both scored twice, while junior Louis Gazo added his second goal of the year for the Beavers, who won their 11th straight conference road game.
• Williams (4-1-9) leads the Green and White with two game-winning goals, Smith (3-0-6) scored three times in two matches last week, and Gazo (2-3-7) and graduate student Ryan Goss (1-3-5) are tied for the team lead in assists.
• Sophomore goalkeeper Walker White (4-1-1) owns a 1.07 goals against average and a .700 save percentage in six starts this fall.

SCOUTING THE MAMMOTHS
• No. 2 Amherst (3-1-1) is looking to rebound from a 3-2 loss to No. 5 Tufts on Saturday afternoon.
• ten Cate scored in the fifth minute and Okorogheye added a goal just 27 seconds into the second half for the Mammoths, who held a pair of one-goal leads and outshot the Jumbos 18-9 on the day.
• Fynn Hayton-Ruffner (2-4-8) leads the team in assists, Andrew Barkidjija (2-3-7) is third on the team in points, and both Okorogheye and Niall Murphy have scored twice on the year.
• Senior goalkeeper Bernie White is 2-1-1 in four starts with a 1.25 goals against average and a .737 save percentage to go along with a pair of clean sheets.

SMITH COLLECTS CONFERENCE HONOR
• Seeing his first action since 2019 after recovering from injury, Smith came off the bench to produce three goals on three shots in two games and was selected as the NEWMAC Offensive Player of the Week on Monday.
• He scored the go-ahead marker in the 71st minute of Wednesday's 3-1 victory over Western New England and tallied once in each half of Saturday's win at Wheaton.

FINISHING TOUCH
• After scoring 24 goals in 20 games last fall, the Beavers have already tallied 17 times over their first six matches this season and rank 40th in Division III averaging 2.83 goals per game.
• Babson has gotten goals from 10 different players and 16 players in all have recorded at least one point through six games.

DOUBLING UP
• With two goals apiece on Saturday, Smith and Williams became the first Babson duo to record a brace in the same match since October 30, 2019, when Alex Crompton '20 and Youcef Ziad '20 each scored twice in a 5-0 win over Bridgewater State.
• In addition to the multi-goal games by Smith and Williams, Goss and junior Liam Rhatigan both recorded a pair of assists in Saturday's victory at Wheaton.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Beavers are 4-0 this season and have gone 45-3-0 dating back 2016 when scoring two or more goals.
• Babson is 15-0-1 since the beginning of last season when scoring the first goal of the match.
• The Green and White has outscored opponents 10-2 in the second half this fall.

UP NEXT
• The Beavers welcome unbeaten Emerson to Hartwell-Rogers Field on Saturday at 1 p.m.

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