NEWMAC Tournament Semifinal
No. 11 Men's Soccer vs. Springfield
Thursday, November 7 | 1:30 p.m.
Hartwell-Rogers Field | Babson Park, Mass.
SERIES HISTORY
• Babson is 25-7-5 all-time against Springfield in a series that dates back to 1994.
• The Beavers are unbeaten in their last six contests against the Pride (5-0-1) while posting six consecutive shutouts.
• The Green and White has won three straight matches at home versus Springfield and is unbeaten on Hartwell-Rogers Field against the Pride going back to 2000.
POSTSEASON HISTORY
• Thursday's game will be the first in the conference playoffs since 2021 and seventh postseason meeting overall between Babson and Springfield.
• The Beavers are 4-1-1 in six previous conference tournament matches, which includes semifinal victories in 2006, 2007, 2010 and 2021.
• The Pride defeated the Green and White 1-0 in the 2018 NEWMAC Tournament final and on penalties following a 1-1 2OT draw in the 2011 conference final.
LAST MEETING
• Senior
Liam Rhatigan scored the only goal of the match in the ninth minute as the Beavers defeated Springfield, 1-0, on October 23, in Babson Park.
• Graduate student
Kento Abe headed down a long service from classmate
Marco Cerezo and Rhatigan split a pair of defenders before scoring from just outside the left post for the Beavers, who got one save from senior goalkeeper
Walker White.
• Noah Pote finished with five saves for the Pride, which got outshot 15-4 in the match.
SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• No. 11 Babson (12-1-6) has won five consecutive games and concluded the regular season with a 6-0 rout of Coast Guard last Saturday.
• Senior
Matias Gutierrez finished with two goals and an assist and graduate students
James Donaldson and
Samuel Kalishman and sophomores
Will Lloyd and
Alexander Yablonovskiy each added a marker for the Beavers, who scored three times just over seven minutes early in the first half.
• Donaldson (6-5-17) has scored in three straight games and four of his last five matches, Abe (6-4-16) has at least one point in five of the last seven contests and the duo of Rhatigan (5-1-11) and Gutierrez (4-3-11) have combined for six goals against conference opponents this fall.
• White has started all 19 games this season and ranks first in the NEWMAC in goals against average (0.54) and shutouts (8) to go along with a .821 save percentage.
SCOUTING THE PRIDE
• Fifth-seeded Springfield (6-8-4) advanced to the conference semifinals for the first time since 2021 after outlasting fourth-seeded MIT 9-8 on penalty kicks following a 2-2 2OT draw on Tuesday night in Cambridge.
• Brandon Trent scored in the 29tth minute, Morgan Thibodeau tied the game in the 50th minute and Ian Belles converted the decisive penalty kick in the 10th round of the shootout for the Pride, which erased an early two-goal deficit and got eight saves from Pote.
• Connor Policarpio (8-3-19) is tied for fifth in the conference in points and scored five times in league play, Cole Sampson (3-3-9) is tied for second on the team in both goals and assists, and Parker Thornton (2-4-8) leads the team in assists.
• Pote is 5-6-4 in 15 starts this fall and owns a 1.31 goals against average and a .794 save percentage to go along with three clean sheets.
GUTIERREZ NAMED NEWMAC OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
• After registering his first career brace and finishing with a career-high five points in Saturday's win over Coast Guard, Gutierrez was tabbed as the league's offensive player of the week on Monday.
• He scored his first goal of the game in the 23rd minute and gave the Beavers a 4-0 advantage with a header in the 65th minute.
STRIKING EARLY
• Babson has scored a first half goal in each of its last seven games against NEWMAC opponents and outscored its foes 9-0 over the opening 45 minutes in four conference home matches this fall.
• Overall, the Beavers have scored nine times inside of 20 minutes this season and are outscoring their opponents 17-3 in the first half of games.
TOURNAMENT TESTED
• The Beavers own 10 NEWMAC Tournament championship since the league was formed in 1998.
• Babson is 16-4-1 in its last 21 semifinal matches and has advanced to the league final 16 times, which includes each of the last five championships since 2018.
SPREADING OUT THE SCORING
• In addition to Gutierrez's first career two-goal game on Saturday, Kalishman and Lloyd both scored their first goals of the season.
• Graduate student
Lorenzo Mancini recorded his first two assists of the year and sophomore
Ben Consentino added his first collegiate point with a second-half assist.
• Entering the postseason, nine different players have scored at least two goals and six players have provided at least three assists for the Green and White.
STREAKING INTO THE POSTSEASON
• Donaldson is the first Babson player to record a goal in three consecutive games since 2021 when Giancarlo Arguello '22 scored in NEWMAC Tournament wins over Springfield and MIT and then added the game-winning marker in an NCAA Tournament first round victory over Cabrini.
• As a team, the Beavers are unbeaten in 30 consecutive matches against conference foes (25-0-5) dating back to October 21.
• Babson also is 8-0-2 this fall at Hartwell-Rogers Field and is unbeaten in its last 15 matches at home dating back to last year.
NUMBERS TO KNOW
• Since falling to Springfield in the 2018 NEWMAC Tournament final, the Beavers are 8-0-1 in the conference playoffs.
• Each of Babson's last three conference semifinal victories have been by a 1-0 scoreline.
• The Green and White is 8-0-1 this fall when leading at halftime.
• The Beavers are 12-0-6 this season and are unbeaten in 32 straight matches when conceding one goal or fewer since a 1-0 loss at Stevens on September 10, 2023.
• Babson has not allowed a first-half goal in six consecutive home games and has conceded just one goal over the opening 45 minutes in its last 13 contests at Hartwell-Rogers Field.
UP NEXT
• The winner of Thursday's semifinal will face either second-seeded Salve Regina or third-seeded Coast Guard in Saturday's championship game.
