No. 15 Men's Soccer at WPI
NEWMAC Tournament Final
Saturday, November 4 | 1 p.m. 
H. Carr Field at Alumni Stadium | Worcester, Mass. 

SERIES HISTORY
•    Babson is 42-9-5- all-time against WPI in a series that dates back to 1974.
•    The Beavers are unbeaten in their last six matches against the Engineers (3-0-3) since 2018, which includes two straight regular season victories over the last two seasons. 
•    The Green and White is unbeaten in its last 10 games versus WPI in Worcester (8-0-2) going back to 2003 although five of the matches have been decided in 2OT. 

POSTSEASON HISTORY
•    Saturday's match will be the first since 2019 and eighth all-time in the conference playoffs between the teams. 
•    Babson is 4-2-1 in seven previous meetings and defeated WPI in both the 2019 (1-0, 2OT) and 2015 (2-1) NEWMAC Tournament finals. 
•    In addition to the one draw, the other six postseason contests between the Beavers and Engineers have all been decided by one goal. 

LAST MEETING
•    Senior Louis Gazo finished with a goal and an assist to help the Beavers defeat WPI, 3-1, on September 16 in Babson Park. 
•    First-year Alexander Yablonovskiy and Will Lloyd both scored in the second half and senior Ryan Kim and first-year McKenzy Pierre each recorded an assist for Babson, which got three saves from junior goalkeeper Walker White. 
•    Matthew Biando converted a penalty kick to give the Engineers a 1-0 lead in the 14th minute, while Ryan Martin turned away seven shots in the loss. 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
•    Second-seeded and 15th-ranked Babson (11-3-6) is unbeaten over its last 11 matches and is coming off a 1-0 win over third-seeded Wheaton in Thursday's semifinals. 
•    Senior Samuel Kalishman broke the scoreless deadlock with his first goal of the year in the 68th minute, sophomore goalkeeper Derek Polanco made four saves in his first career start and Gazo cleared a ball off the goal line in the 83rd minute for the Beavers. 
•    Graduate student Justin Stone (4-1-9) has three game-winning goals, classmate Sam Morgan (3-3-9) leads the team in assists and the trio of senior Liam Rhatigan (4-0-8), Gazo (3-1-7) and (3-1-7) have combined for eight second-half goals this fall. 
•    White, who has started 19 of 20 matches this fall, boasts a 0.53 goals against average and a .891 save percentage to go along with 11 shutouts, which rank second in Division III. 

SCOUTING THE ENGINEERS
•    Top-seeded WPI (9-3-6) has won five straight games and is unbeaten in 11 consecutive matches after beating fifth-seeded Coast Guard 1-0 on Thursday night. 
•    Aaron Vaz scored the only goal of the game in the 10th minute and Martin made six saves for the Engineers, who kept their ninth clean sheet over the last 11 contests. 
•    Francesco Valagussa (6-4-16) is tied for the league lead in points and ranks second in goals, Vaz (4-1-9) has scored three times over the last five matches and Luke Savoie (2-2-6) has two goals and an assist over the last five outings. 
•    Martin is 8-1-3 in 13 starts this fall and boasts a 0.46 goals against average and a .917 save percentage to go along with five solo shutouts. 

TOUGH TO CRACK
•    The Beavers conceded just two goals in eight conference regular season matches and are third in Division III in shutouts (13) and save percentage (.901) and rank sixth nationally in team goals against average (0.50). 
•    The Green and White has allowed 10 goals this season and has limited opponents to one goal or fewer in 17 of 20 matches. 
•    Not to be outdone, Wheaton has conceded just 13 goals and ranks sixth in Division III in shutouts (11) and save percentage (.881) and 31st in goals against average (0.72). 

BEAVERS IN THE POSTSEASON
•    Babson, which has won 10 conference tournament championships since 2002, has now advanced to the NEWMAC Tournament championship game 16 times in 21 tries since 1999.
•    The Beavers, who are seeking their fourth consecutive NEWMAC title, and have claimed five championships (2014, 2015, 2019, 2021, 2022) over the last eight seasons.
•    In eight previous NEWMAC final games away from home the Beavers are 6-2, which includes four straight victories (2014, 2015, 2019, 2021). 
•    Babson (2008-10, 2019-22) and Wheaton (2005-07) have both won three consecutive titles but no school has ever captured four straight NEWMAC Tournament championships. 

NEXT MAN UP
•    Polanco, who played less than 40 minutes in two appearances as a rookie in 2022, was superb in his first game action of this season and first career start in Thursday's win over Wheaton. 
•    He finished with four saves and became the first Babson goalkeeper to record a shutout while making his first collegiate start in the postseason since Austin Mankouski '20 stopped two shots in a 0-0 draw with Saint Joseph's (Maine) in the first round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament. 

LATE MAGIC
•    Babson has scored 21 of its 24 goals this season in the second half of games and has been especially dangerous late in matches. 
•    The Beavers have scored 11 times in the 70th minute or later with eighth of those goals coming beyond the 80th minute. 

TOURNAMENT TESTED
•    White was terrific in three postseason starts last season posting a 0.31 goals against average and stopping 14 of 15 shots for a .933 save percentage to go along with a pair of shutouts. 

WHEN 90 MINUTES ISN'T ENOUGH
•    No overtime was played during regular season contests for the second consecutive season but all postseason matches will feature two 10-minute periods of extra time if a game is deadlocked at the end of regulation. 
•    If the game remains tied after both overtime sessions, a winner will be decided by penalty kicks. 

NUMBERS TO KNOW
•    The Beavers are unbeaten in their last 21 games against NEWMAC opponents and has won seven consecutive conference tournament matches since 2019.
•    Babson is 6-0-1 this season when scoring at least two goals and 11-1-5 when conceding one goal or fewer.
•    The Beavers are unbeaten in their last 37 games (35-0-2) when scoring the opening goal of the match.
•    The Green and White is unbeaten in seven consecutive road matches (4-0-3) while allowing just two goals.
•    Babson is 3-2-4 in games played on turf this fall.

TICKETS
•    All tickets must be purchased online through the NEWMAC Box Office for all rounds of this year's conference tournament. 
•    Students attending NEWMAC institutions with a valid ID and children under 12 are free and do not need a mobile ticket.