No. 2 Field Hockey vs. No. 19 MIT
Saturday, October 21 | 12 p.m.
MacDowell Field | Babson Park, Mass.

WHAT TO KNOW
• The New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) regular season title is on the line when No. 2 Babson hosts No. 19 MIT on Saturday at MacDowell Field.
• Both teams are nationally ranked, undefeated in conference play and riding nine-game winning streaks, with just one week remaining in the regular season.

SERIES HISTORY
• The Beavers have a 33-18 advantage over MIT in the all-time series that dates back to 1984.
• Babson has won four straight and 10 of the last 13 against the Engineers dating back to 2014 but all three losses have come at MacDowell Field in the NEWMAC Tournament (championship games in 2017 and 2019, semifinals in 2018).
• The Green and White have captured nine of the last 12 at MacDowell Field going back to 2012.

LAST MEETING
• No. 10-ranked and top-seeded Babson scored once in each of the first three quarters and No. 12 and second-seeded MIT couldn't recover as the Beavers captured their second consecutive conference title, 3-1, on November 5, 2022 at MacDowell Field.
• Senior Andrea Marguerite, graduate student Brianne McGrath and sophomore Caroline DiGiovanni scored for the Beavers, Kelsey Low '23 recorded an assist, and junior Bayla Furmanek made six saves in goal in the win. Junior back Berit Sharrow was named Tournament Most Outstanding Player.
• Sophomore Bailey McIntyre scored the lone goal for the Engineers on a penalty stroke in the third period. Junior goalie Anna Duncan made six saves in the setback.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• No. 2 Babson (15-1, 7-0 NEWMAC) extended its winning streak with Tuesday's 5-0 conference whitewash over Wellesley on Tuesday at Butler Stadium.
• McGrath and DiGiovanni scored two goals apiece for the Beavers and graduate student Sinead Walsh contributed a goal in the win. McGrath, Sharrow, Marguerite, and grad student Meara Hanyon all collected assists and Furmanek made one save to earn the win in goal.
• Walsh (13-6-32) and Marsh (13-5-31) are in the top five in the NEWMAC in both goals and points. McGrath (11-7-29) and DiGiovanni (10-0-20) give the Beavers four double-digit goal scorers and junior Jessica Evans (6-6-18), Sharrow (6-5-17, Hanyon (3-9-15) and Marguerite (5-4-14) provide addition offensive threats for the Green and White.
• Furmanek (15-1, 0.69 GAA, .796 sv. pct) has started every game over the past two seasons and leads the NEWMAC in goals against average and shutouts (8).

SCOUTING THE ENGINEERS
• No. 19 MIT (11-3, 3-0 NEWMAC) continued its winning ways with Tuesday's 9-1 rout of Mount Holyoke in Cambridge.
• Graduate student Liberty Ladd tallied three goals and an assist, junior Ashley Lederman and sophomore Shealy Callahan added two goals and an assist apiece, and first-years Janie Thomas and Sammi Blocher scored once each in the win. Three Engineers shared time in goal and combined for five saves.
• Two-time NEWMAC Offensive Athlete of the Year grad student Paige Forrester (15-6-36) is second in the conference in scoring, first-year Ingrid Tomovski (10-4-24) has three multi-goal games, and junior Eva Oppenheim (8-4-20) has a six-game point streak with four goals and three assists in that span. Ladd (7-1-15) and Thomas (6-1-13) provide offensive depth for the Engineers.
• First-year Maeve Zimmer (1.03 GAA, .831 sv. pct.) has started all 14 games for the Engineers and ranks second in the NEWMAC in goals against average and third in save percentage.

EYEING THE MATCH-UP
• Babson (4.9) leads the NEWMAC in goals per game and MIT (4.1) ranks third, while the Beavers (0.69) and Engineers (1.07) are 1-2 in fewest goals allowed.
• The Green and White top the conference in shots (398) and penalty corners (207) while the Cardinal Red and Silver Gray are third in shots (312) and second in corners (164).

STINGY DEFENSE
• The Babson defense, anchored by Sharrow, Hanyon, graduate student Daniela Parrado-Nazal and sophomore Sanne van der Goes, has allowed just 11 goals in 16 games this season, the fewest in the NEWMAC.
• The Beavers have surrendered just three goals in their current nine-game winning streak.
• Since the start of the 2018 campaign, the Green and White are 80-2 when holding the opponents to no more than one goal.

CALENDAR SUCCESS
• Babson has won 43 games in a row in the month of October dating back to a 2-1 loss at Montclair State on October 28, 2017.
• The Beavers are 5-0 on Saturdays this season and 22-1 on the first day of the weekend in the past three seasons.

CLIMBING THE CHARTS
• McGrath has climbed to eighth place on Babson's career scoring list with 117 points. She is also tied for eighth with 45 goals and tied for ninth with 27 assists.
• Furmanek is now tied for third in program history with 16 career shutouts and fifth with 34 wins.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Beavers are riding a NEWMAC regular season victory streak of 57 games dating back to 2015.
• The Green and White are 9-0 this season on home turf and have won 33 of their last 37 games at MacDowell Field over the past three seasons.
• Babson has won 48 games in a row when leading at halftime, dating back to 2021, and is 74-3 since 2018 when taking a lead into the second half.
• The Beavers have lost just once in their last 51 outings when scoring the first goal of the game.

UP NEXT
• The Beavers will play their final two regular season games on the road, Tuesday in a non-conference affair at the University of New England and Saturday in the NEWMAC finale at Mount Holyoke.