No. 20 Men's Lacrosse at Springfield
Saturday, April 1 | 11 a.m.
Stagg Field | Springfield, Mass.
SERIES HISTORY
• Babson and Springfield will meet for the 41st time on Saturday in a series that dates back to the last 1970s.
• The Beavers are just 6-35 all-time against the Pride but have won three of the last four regular season matchups between the teams.
• The Green and White were 9-5 winners in its last visit to Stagg Field back 2019.
LAST MEETING
• Zac Shuette finished with three goals and four assists and Springfield scored eight of nine goals over a 22-minute stretch that spanned the second and third quarters on the way to defeating the Beavers, 17-13, on April 2, 2022, in Babson Park.
• Senior Alek Turi and Joe Maimone also finished with three goals apiece and Jackson Lane scooped up seven ground balls for the Pride, which led 15-7 early in the fourth quarter.
• Junior Topher Bower produced four goals and three assists, classmate Chi Chi Price contributed four goals and two assists and fellow junior Grey Sunderland won 17-of-32 face-offs and led all players with 11 ground balls for Babson.
SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• No. 20 Babson (5-2, 2-0 NEWMAC) suffered a 13-12 loss at No. 10/15 Bowdoin that snapped its four-game winning streak on Tuesday night.
• Bower scored three times, graduate student Will Spangenberg finished with three goals and two assists and classmate Ryan Kenney chipped in with two goals and two assists for the Beavers, who trailed 8-2 just over five minutes into the second quarter and cut a late four-goal deficit to just one with 52 seconds remaining.
• Spangenberg (22-18-40) ranks second in the league in both assists and points, Kenney (22-6-28) has put up five straight multi-goal games and Price (25-1-26) ranks second in the conference.
• Sunderland has won 49.6 percent of his face-offs (66-of-133) and had picked up 40 ground balls, junior Dillon Quinn leads the defense with 13 ground balls and 11 caused turnovers and senior Will Parducci owns a NEWMAC-best 10.74 goals against average and ranks third in the league with a .550 save percentage.
SCOUTING THE PRIDE
• Springfield (3-6, 2-0 NEWMAC) followed up last Saturday's win at MIT with a 15-8 loss at No. 7 Middlebury on Tuesday.
• Turi had three goals and one assist, senior Kevin Tierney chipped in with two goals and one assist and sophomore Vincent Scialdone won 9-of-15 face-offs for the Pride, which trailed by just one early in the third quarter despite playing its seventh consecutive game on the road.
• Graduate student Conor Tracy (21-6-27) has 15 goals over his last five games and ranks fifth in the conference in points, senior Riley Burgmyer (13-12-25) ranks fourth in the league in assists and classmate Mason Nocito (13-6-19) has tallied four man-up goals this spring.
• Senior Steven Betsch has won 52.7 percent of his face-offs (87-of-165), graduate student Connor Roberts (32 GB, 29 CT) and junior Gavin Carzello (39 GB, 18 CT) both rank among the top five in the NEWMAC in caused turnovers and junior Jack Hamilton has posted a 15.65 goals against average and a .406 save percentage in seven starts.
TWO AT THE TOP
• Babson and Springfield enter Saturday's matchup as the only 2-0 teams in conference play with the winner taking over first place.
• The Beavers have scored a league-high 40 goals in victories over Coast Guard and Clark and have committed the fewest turnovers in the NEWMAC (16) over their first two wins.
• The Green and White also ranks third in goals against average (9.50) behind 1-0 Emerson (6.00) and Springfield (9.00).
SUNDERLAND NAMED NEWMAC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
• After winning a season-high 18 face-offs and scooping up 11 ground balls in Saturday's victory over Clark, Sunderland was tabbed as the league's defensive player of the week on Monday.
• He ranks third in the NEWMAC in face-off winning percentage (.516) among players that have taken at least 50 and his 6.17 ground balls per game are good for second in the conference.
STREAKING BEAVERS
• Price has scored in 13 straight games and has a point in each of his last 15 contests, while Spangenberg has tallied in 11 consecutive outings and enters Saturday's contest with a 15-game points streak dating back to last season at Holy Cross.
• Kenney has recorded five straight multi-goal games and first-year Bennett Smith has at least two points in each of his last four games.
AMONG THE NATION'S BEST
• Babson enters Saturday's game ranked second in Division III in both clearing percentage (.917) and fewest turnovers per game (13.71).
• Spangenberg ranks 17th in Division III averaging 5.67 points per contest and is 23rd nationally in assists per game (2.67), while Paruducci's 13.83 saves per game rank 47th among Division III goalies.
NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Beavers are 5-0 this season and 19-1 since the start of 2020 when leading at halftime.
• Babson is 19-2 over the last four seasons when scoring at least 12 goals.
• The Green and White is 3-0 this season when winning at least 50 percent of the face-offs.
• The Beavers are 10-4 since the start of the 2022 campaign when recording eight or more caused turnovers.
UP NEXT
• Babson travels to UMass Boston on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
