No. 19/20 Men's Lacrosse at Roger Williams 
Saturday, February 17 | 12 p.m.
Bayside Field | Bristol, R.I. 

SERIES HISTORY
•    Babson is 13-1 all-time against Roger Williams in a series that dates back to 1990.
•    The Beavers have won their last seven games against the Hawks since 2015. 
•    Four of the last eight matchups between the teams since 2014 have been decided by two goals or fewer, which includes three contests decided by a single-goal (2014, 2016, 2018).
•    Babson and Roger Williams will meet to open the season for the third year in a row and fifth time in the last six seasons. 

LAST MEETING
•    Chi Chi Price '23 tallied three of his game-high five goals in the first quarter and Ryan Kenney M'23 scored twice to help the Beavers defeat Roger Williams, 12-10, on February 18, 2023, in Babson Park. 
•    Will Spangenberg M'23 finished with a goal and four assists for five points and senior Grey Sunderland won 17-of-26 face-offs while scooping up eight ground balls for the Beavers, who led 9-5 at halftime.
•    Matt Halpin and Kevin Murphy both scored three goals and Tyler Zanini finished with two caused turnovers for the Hawks, who cut their deficit to two with 3:24 to go in the fourth quarter. 

A LOOK BACK ON 2023
•    Head coach Rocky Batty, who is now in his sixth season at Babson, led the Beavers to a historic campaign last spring that included NEWMAC regular season and tournament championships and the program's first NCAA Tournament a win last May. 
•    The Green and White edged MIT 15-14 in OT in the conference tournament final and topped No. 16/17 Williams 16-10 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to third-ranked RIT in the third round to end the year at 13-5. 
•    The 13 wins matched the single-season program record set back in 2001. 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
•    Babson (0-0) returns 40 players from last year's squad that went 6-0 in conference play and 13-5 overall after advancing to the third round of the NCAA Tournament. 
•    Despite needing to replace its top four scorers, sophomore Bennett Smith (17g-22a-39p) and senior Topher Bower (20-17-37) lead a group of four veterans that produced 20 or more points last spring. 
•    Seniors Jacob Tauss (17-10-27) and Christian Brofft (15-5-20) combined for 14 of their 32 goals in four postseason games, while Sunderland won 55.2 percent of his face-offs (235-of-426) and scooped up a career-high 153 ground balls. 
•    Senior Dillon Quinn (40 GB, 24 CT) led the Green and White in caused turnovers, classmate Sammy Kalishman (50 GB, 12 CT) earned All-NEWMAC honors after finishing second on the team in ground balls and fellow senior Brendan Maher joined him on the all-league squad with 33 ground balls and eight caused turnovers. 

SCOUTING THE HAWKS
•    Roger Williams (0-0), which was picked to finish third in the CCC, brings back 34 players from a team that finished 9-7 after falling in the conference quarterfinals last spring. 
•    The Hawks return their top nine scorers from a season ago highlighted by the duo of Murphy (44-14-58) and Halpin (41-17-58), who combined for 116 points. 
•    Ryan Venditti (26-19-45) led the team in assists, Noah Ravas (18-15-33) produced a point in all but two games and Kyle Zirn led the defense with 51 ground balls and a team-high 40 caused turnovers. 
•    Michael Bussinelli and Mike Intravala both forced 14 turnovers in front of Max Kimmel, who posted an 11.50 goals against average and a .460 save percentage in 16 starts between the pipes. 

BEAVERS PICKED TO REPEAT BY NEWMAC COACHES
•    Babson, which is ranked 19th by the USILA and 20th by Inside Lacrosse, was picked to finish first when the NEWMAC announced its preseason coaches' poll last week. 
•    The Beavers received seven first-place votes to finish ahead of last year's runner-up MIT, while Springfield, Coast Guard and league newcomer Salve Regina rounded out the top five. 

HITTING THE PORTAL
•    In addition to its 12-man first-year class, the Beavers added eight transfers, which includes six graduate students, to their roster ahead of the 2024 campaign. 
•    Jared Rainville produced 32 goals and 58 points last season and 118 points in 31 career games at Connecticut College, while Harrison Ike put up 43 goals and 61 points in 2023 at Trinity. 
•    Graduate student James Turco won 248 face-offs in his career at Lafayette, Gus Mazzocca produced 38 points (24g, 14a) in 31 games at Connecticut College, Chip Quinn scooped up 31 ground balls and caused seven turnovers last season at Lynchburg and Michael Bazzano contributed 56 ground balls and 41 caused turnovers in 45 career games at Kenyon. 

STREAKS OF NOTE
•    Bennett Smith enters the season riding an eight-game points streak, which includes at least one assist in every contest. 
•    Bower has a goal in each of his last four contests, Tauss owns a four-game points streak and Brofft has provided a goal in back-to-back outings. 
•    Rainville scored in each of his 28 games at Connecticut College over the last two seasons, while Ike concluded his Trinity career with a goal in 15 straight games and at least one point in 16 straight contests. 

LEGACY OF 79
•    For the second consecutive season, senior Ford Carney will don the No. 79 jersey for the Beavers, which was introduced prior to head coach Rocky Batty's first season to honor the legacy of the 1979 squad, which reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history. 
•    Niall Dillon '19 earned the jersey for his senior campaign 2019 before Lee Sipes '21 M'22 wore No. 79 from 2020-22. 

NUMBERS TO KNOW
•    The Beavers, who open the season with four consecutive road games, went 6-3 away from home last spring.
•    Babson was 12-1 last season when leading at halftime.
•    The Green and White went 8-2 last year when recording at least eight caused turnovers. 
•    The Beavers finished 9-2 in 2023 when winning at least half the face-offs. 

UP NEXT
•    Babson will travel to No. 12/9 Union on February 24.