MIDDLEBURY, Vt.—For 110 minutes, including 90 minutes of scoreless regulation play and 20 minutes of overtime without a goal, No. 11 Babson College went toe-to-toe with No. 3 Middlebury College, but in the end, it was the host Panthers outlasting the Beavers in the penalty kick round, 4-3, in an NCAA Tournament Division III quarterfinal on Sunday afternoon at South Street Field.

Babson, whose only loss this season was a regular season setback at Middlebury back on October 13, finishes its season with a 17-1-7 overall record and unbeaten in its last 11 games. Middlebury won its fourth straight NCAA Tournament game and advances to the national semifinals against No. 8 Amherst on December 5 in Las Vegas.

In a scoreless match dominated by defense and goaltending, Babson senior keeper Walker White (Coral Gables, Fla.) made five saves to post his 12th shutout of the year and eighth straight match without conceding a goal. His counterpart at the other end, junior Joey Waterman (North Andover, Mass.) also made five stops for his 11th clean sheet of the season.

After the scoreless draw, the teams went to the penalty kick round to determine who would advance in the tournament. After Babson missed its first opportunity, sophomore Jay Hoke (Fayetteville, N.Y.) converted his attempt to the left side to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead. Both Babson graduate student Marco Cerezo (Malaga, Spain) and Middlebury senior Tyler Payne (London, England) scored on shots to the left in round two to make it 2-1 Middlebury.

The keepers came up big in the third round with Waterman making the save going to his left and White answering with a stop going to his right. Senior Lyndon Way (Atlanta, Ga.) guessed the right side and scored for Babson to begin round four and tie the score at 2-2 before sophomore Colin Dugan (Avon, Conn.) came back with a shot to the left to score and put the Panthers back up 3-2 heading into round five.

Babson stayed alive when graduate student Tyler Fidrych (Stonington, Conn.) went left and scored to tie it up, but sophomore Will Sawin (Stonington, Conn.) hit the game-winner when he buried his shot into the left side of the net for the Panthers.

Babson outshot the hosts 7-5 in the first half, but things really heated up after the intermission. Graduate student James Donaldson (Kirkland, Quebec) hit a laser volley from 25 yards out in the 52nd minute for the Green and White that forced Waterman to make a diving save going to his left. White made an excellent save in the 62nd minute on a ball that was deflected right in front of the goal, and a minute later denied Dugan at point blank range. The Babson keeper made another game-saving save in the 77th minute against sophomore Hugo Horowitz (Glen Rock, N.J.) from 10 yards out.

Babson had a strong opportunity thwarted in the 80th minute when a shot by senior Matias Gutierrez (Coral Gables, Fla.) was deflected in front and went on goal, forcing Waterman to make the stop. Middlebury had one last chance in regulation play when Sawin got loose in the box and eluded a charging White but his shot went wide left.

Senior Samuel Kalishman (Clarksville, Md.) has two excellent chances for Babson in the first extra session, but his shot from the top of the box in the 99th minute went just a bit wide left and another attempt in the 100th minute went wide right.

The keepers continued to shine in the second overtime as Waterman made a terrific leaping save in the 103rd minute on header by Way off a free kick by graduate student Kento Abe (Quincy, Mass.). White also made a leaping stop of his own in the 105th minute on a ball that glanced off a Babson defender, and added a final save on a shot that went through a defender's legs in the 108th minute.

Babson finished with a narrow 16-15 edge in total shots while each team was credited with five shots on target. Middlebury ended up with a 6-5 margin in corner kicks.

GAME NOTES
• Babson is 7-5-7 all-time against Middlebury in a series that dates back to 1979 after the two teams squared off in the post-season for the first time since the 2010 NCAA Tournament sectional semifinals.
• The Green and White extended their program single-season shutout record to 17 games, which leads Division III this fall, and extended their scoreless streak against to more than 807 minutes dating back to October 26.
• The Beavers went to penalty kicks in the post-season for the second straight season after falling to WPI in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) final on November 4, 2023.
• Over the last three seasons, the Beavers are 40-1-16 when conceding one goal or fewer.
• White finishes an outstanding senior season with a 17-1-7 record, a 0.41 goals against average and 13 clean sheets, which rank tied for second on the program's all-time list for wins and shutouts, fifth in GAA and sixth in winning percentage (.820). His career marks of 42-8-16, 0.63 GAA and 30 clean sheets rank third all-time in goals against average, tied for fourth in shutouts and fifth in both wins and winning percentage.