No. 11 Men's Soccer at MIT
Saturday, October 26 | 4:00 p.m.
Roberts Field | Cambridge, Mass.

SERIES HISTORY
• Babson is 42-10-6 all-time against MIT in a series that dates back to 1976.
• The Green and White have won three in a row and are 7-3-2 against the Engineers over the last 10 years, with nine of the 12 games decided by a single goal or ended in a draw.
• The Beavers are 5-0-1 in the last six matches at Roberts Field.

LAST MEETING
• Sophomore Alexander Yablonovskiy scored twice early in the second half to help No. 8 Babson defeat visiting MIT, 2-0, on October 21, 2023, at Hartwell-Rogers Field. 
• Robin Pestka registered an assist and senior goalkeeper Walker White finished with four saves to record his 10th shutout of the year for the Beavers, who had a 23-12 margin in shots. 
• Sophomore Hernando Ardila stopped five shots and suffered his first loss of the year for MIT. 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• No. 11 Babson (9-1-6, 4-0-1 NEWMAC) is coming off back-to-back shutout victories over NEWMAC opponents Wheaton (2-0) last Saturday and Springfield (1-0) on Wednesday.
• White made two saves in the win at Wheaton and one save in the home victory over Springfield for his sixth and seventh clean sheets of the season. Graduate students Kento Abe and James Donaldson potted goals in the verdict over Wheaton and senior Liam Rhatigan notched the game-winner against Springfield.
• Abe (5-3-13) has seven points in his last four games while Donaldson (3-5-11) leads the team and is tied for third in the league in assists. Rhatigan (5-0-10) has all of his career-high five goals in the last six games and Yablonovskiy (3-2-8) and sophomore McKenzy Pierre (3-1-7) are tied for third on the team in goals.
• White (0.58 GAA, 42 svs, 7 SO) leads the NEWMAC in goals against average and shutouts, ranking 17th in Division III in GAA and 21st in shutouts.

SCOUTING THE ENGINEERS
• MIT (7-7-1, 2-2-1 NEWMAC) got back to the .500 mark with a 2-1 NEWMAC victory over Emerson last Saturday in Cambridge.
• First year Shikhar Motupally scored twice in the win and senior Nathan Guntvedt and graduate student Adam Snowdon collected assists. Ardila registered two saves for the Engineers, who finished with a 12-3 advantage in shots on goal.
• Motupally (8-7-23) has four goals and two assists in the last four games and ranks second in the NEWMAC in all three offensive categories. Graduate student Aidan Hallinan (6-2-14) and first-year Jonah Gurion (5-1-11) are second and third on the team in scoring, and along with Motupally have accounted for 19 of the team's 24 goals.
• Sophomore Paolo Mangiafico (3-3-1, 1.25 GAA, 28 svs) and Ardila (4-4-0, 1.71 GAA, 18 svs) have split time in goal for the Engineers and combined for three shutouts.

PLAYOFF PICTURE
• Heading into the final two weekends of the NEWMAC regular season, Babson (4-0-1) sits atop the standings with 13 points with Springfield (3-2-1) and Coast Guard (3-1-1) tied for second with 10 points.
• Salve Regina (2-1-2) has the fourth spot with eight points, just one point ahead of MIT (2-2-1) and defending champion WPI (1-1-4), who have seven points and currently have the advantage for the final two playoff spots.

BABSON VS. THE NEWMAC
• Babson has outscored its five NEWMAC opponents this season by a count of 14-1.
• The Beavers have just one loss in 41 games against conference opponents (30-1-10) in the regular season since the start of the 2018 campaign.
• The Green and White are 22-0-5 over their last 27 NEWMAC fixtures, including playoffs, a streak that dates back to October 30, 2021. 

NEWMAC WEEKLY HONOR
• White was tabbed as the league's defensive player of the week on Monday for the second time this season.
• The senior keeper made two saves to record his sixth shutout of the year in a 2-0 victory at Wheaton last Saturday. He is now fifth in Babson history with 25 career shutouts and owns a 0.69 goals against average and a .841 save percentage to go along with a 34-8-16 record in 59 career games.

RANKED HIGH IN THE NPI
• Babson is ranked ninth for the second week in a row in the Division III NCAA Power Index (NPI), which is used to select teams for the NCAA Tournament. 
• The Beavers are the top-ranked team in the NEWMAC and Region II by more than three points, and are one of six programs from New England ranked among the top nine. 

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Beavers are 9-0-3 on the year when scoring the opening goal of the match. 
• Babson is 9-0-6 this season 32-1-15 over the last three seasons when conceding one goal or fewer. 
•  The Green and White is 16-1-6 in the month of October since 2022. 

UP NEXT
•    The Beavers wrap up the regular season with a pair of NEWMAC games next week, traveling to Clark on Wednesday and hosting Coast Guard at Hartwell-Rogers Field on November 2.