Women's Lacrosse vs. Westfield State
NCAA Tournament | First Round
Saturday, May 13 | 1 p.m.
Bill Alfond Field | Waterville, Maine

WHAT TO KNOW
• Babson and Westfield State will meet in the opening round of the 2023 NCAA Division III Tournament on Saturday in Waterville, Maine.
• The winner will face No. 12 Colby in a second round contest on Sunday at 1 p.m.

SERIES HISTORY
• Babson and Westfield State will meet for the first time on Saturday.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• Babson (12-7) has won five consecutive games and defeated No. 22 MIT, 13-10, to claim the program's ninth NEWMAC Tournament championship on Saturday in Cambridge.
• Senior Erin Jayne led all players with five points (3g, 2a), graduate student Emily Curtis had three goals and senior Claudia Dodge and sophomore Jessica Evans each scored twice for the Beavers, took their biggest lead of the game at 9-4 just 90 seconds into the third quarter.
• Curtis (65-24-89) ranks 41st in Division III in points and has scored in 18 straight games, Jayne (38-27-65) leads the team in assists and is riding a nine-game points streak, and Dodge (36-16-52) owns a 17-game points streak and is first on the team with 26 caused turnovers.
• Sophomore Clare Connolly ranks first in Division in both draw controls (208) and draws per game (10.95), junior Eileen Manning leads the defense with 33 ground balls and 25 caused turnovers, and sophomore Kathleen Murphy boasts a 9.75 goals against average and a .430 save percentage in 19 starts.

SCOUTING THE OWLS
• Westfield State (14-5) has won 11 straight games and is coming off a 21-15 victory over Framingham State in Saturday's MASCAC Tournament final.
• Senior Cassidy Harvey scored six times, junior Natalie DeMaio finished with five goals and one assist and senior Emma Cretella added four goals and two assists for the Owls, who had two different five-goal runs and led by as many as nine with under six minutes to go in the fourth quarter.
• Cretella (60-23-83) is averaging 6.67 points over the last three games and leads the team with 68 draw controls, Harvey (53-13-66) has scored at least three goals in nine of her last 10 outings and senior Cassidy Connolly (46-12-58) has converted 9-of-13 free-position chances.
• DeMaio (39-13-52) has scored a goal in eight straight games, senior Megan Bailey leads the team in ground balls (46) and caused turnovers (25) and is second in draw controls (64), and junior Kara Banagan owns a 10.66 goals against average and a .529 save percentage in 13 games this season.

BABSON IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
• The Beavers are making their second NCAA Tournament appearance in the last three seasons and the ninth overall in program history, all of which have come since 2007.
• Babson advanced to the second round in both 2017 and 2018 and made four consecutive Round of 16 appearances from 2007-10.
• The Green and White is 5-2 all-time in NCAA first round contests.

WESTFIELD STATE IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
• The Owls are making their fifth NCAA appearance, all of which have come since 2017.
• Westfield State has advanced to the second round on three occasions (2017, 2018, 2021) and is 2-1 in the opening round of the Division III championship.

SEVEN BEAVERS EARN NEWMAC ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS
• Curtis, Dodge and Manning were all named to the All-NEWMAC first team, while Jayne, Connolly, Murphy and junior Kayleigh Hacker (26 GB, 21 CT) garnered second-team accolades when the league announced its postseason awards on Tuesday.
• Hacker collected her third straight all-conference honor, while Dodge, Jayne and Murphy were all recognized for the second year in a row.

REWRITING THE RECORD BOOKS
• Jayne enters the NCAA Tournament ranked fourth on Babson's all-time list with 77 assists as well as 13th in points (192) and 15th in goals (115) despite playing just 48 career games.
• Curtis ranks fourth on the Beavers' single-season list in both goals (65) and points (89).
• Dodge is ranked ninth on the program's all-time list with 74 caused turnovers.

DOMINATING THE DRAW
• Connolly, who is already third on Babson's career list with 291 draw controls, has won at least 11 each of her last five games and eight of the last nine contests overall going back a 22-3 win at Mount Holyoke on April 8.
• The Beavers are 10-1 this season when she finishes with 10 or more draw controls, which includes nine consecutive wins since April 2.

STREAKING BEAVERS
• Jayne, who has recorded at least one point in 47 of 48 games during her career, has produced at least one goal in nine consecutive outings since being shutout by Williams on April 5.
• Evans has registered four straight multi-goal games and has 16 goals and four assists for 20 points during her current five-game points streak.
• In addition to winning double-digit draws, Connolly has scored in five consecutive games going back to April 19.

TOURNAMENT EXPERIENCE
• Five members of Babson's current team saw action in the Beavers' 21-9 loss to TCNJ in the second round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament.
• Jayne and junior Nicole Darveau both scored twice, Dodge contributed a goal, senior Anna Katherine Sypniewski dished out one assist and Hacker led all players with three caused turnovers against the Lions.

SOMETHING IN COMMON
• Babson and Westfield State share four common opponents – Springfield, Wheaton, Framingham State and Skidmore.
• The Beavers defeated the Pride twice, which includes a 15-9 win last Wednesday in the NEWMAC semifinals, and recorded double-digit victories over the Lyons and Rams in addition to suffering an OT loss to the Thoroughbreds in their season opener.
• The Owls own a pair of wins over Framingham State as well as an easy victory of Wheaton in addition to battling to one-goal decisions against Springfield in a 16-15 OT loss on March 29 and an 18-17 triumph over Skidmore on April 14.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Beavers are 9-1 this season and 15-2 over the last two seasons when Murphy saves 50 percent of the shots she faces.
• Babson has won six consecutive games and is 7-3 away from home on the year.
• The Beavers are 12-0 this season and are 25-1 over the last two seasons when scoring at least 12 goals.
• The Green and White is 7-1 this spring and 17-2 since the start of last year when scoring four or more free-position goals.
• Babson is 7-2 this season and 18-4 over the last two years when forcing at least 10 turnovers.