Women's Lacrosse vs. Framingham State
Tuesday, February 27 | 4 p.m.
MacDowell Field | Babson Park, Mass. 

SERIES HISTORY
•    Babson and Framingham State will meet for the third consecutive season in a series that dates back to 2022 on Tuesday. 
•    The Beavers are 2-0 all-time against the Rams. 
•    Tuesday contest marks the first time in series history that Babson and Framingham State will meet to open the season. 

LAST MEETING
•    Emily Curtis M'23 and Erin Jayne '23 finished with six points apiece and junior Amelia Novitch scored four goals to help Babson defeat the Rams, 21-9, on March 30, 2023, in Framingham, Mass. 
•    Curtis finished with four goals and two assists and Jayne totaled three goals and three assists as six different players recorded multi-goal games for the Beavers, who converted 8-of-10 free-position chances and got 10 saves from junior Kathleen Murphy. 
•    Rachel Erickson finished with two goals, two assists and five draw controls, while Hanah Guerin scored three times for Framingham State, which was outscored 10-2 over the final 21 minutes of the game. 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
•    Head coach Michelle Smith returns 20 players from a team that finished 13-8 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament after capturing its second NEWMAC Tournament championship in three years last spring. 
•    Although the Beavers must replace their top three scorers, they return four players that produced 20 or more points highlighted by junior Jessica Evans, who set new career highs with 27 goals and 11 assists for 38 points in 2023. 
•    Senior Nicole Darveau (23-6-29) and junior Kathryn Blake (21-5-26) both set career highs in goals and points, sophomore Lilly Bedard (16-6-22) had five multi-goal games and junior Clare Connolly added 13 goals and four assists for 17 points while leading Division III with 228 draw controls. 
•    Seniors Eileen Manning (37 GB, 27 CT) and Kayleigh Hacker (26 GB, 21 CT) are two of four returning starters on defense in front of Murphy, who posted a 10.16 goals against average and a career-best .416 save percentage in 21 starts last season. 

SCOUTING THE RAMS
•    Framingham State returns 10 starters and 14 players in from a team that went 12-8 and fell to Westfield State in the MASCAC Tournament final in 2023. 
•    Guerin (76-24-100) scored a team-high 20 free-position goals and was second on the team in assists last spring, while Erickson pumped in 55 goals and dished out 23 assists for 78 points and was third on the squad with 87 draw controls. 
•    Regan Fein (35-37-72) led the team in assists and was second with 103 draw controls, Leah Green contributed 49 goals and seven assists for 56 points and Molly Lanier (34-7-41) secured a team-high 104 draws. 
•    Kaleigh Houlihan (42 GB, 21 CT) led the team in ground balls, Maggie Grout (33 GB, 33 CT) was first on the squad in forced turnovers and Isabella DiMare posted a 12.55 goals against average and a .440 save percentage in 13 appearances in goal.

POLL POSITION
•    Coming off last year's conference title, the Beavers were voted first on five ballots and finished second in the NEWMAC preseason coaches' poll. 
•    No. 22 MIT, which lost 13-10 to Babson in last year's league final, earned six votes to finish atop the poll, while Springfield, Coast Guard and Wheaton rounded out the top five. 

DOMINATING THE DRAW
•    Connolly's 228 draw controls last spring are the second highest total in Division III history behind only the 239 won by Kelly McGinniss of Lycoming in 2019. 
•    Connolly averaged 10.86 draw controls per game and finished with 12 or more in 11 contests, which includes a career-high 23 versus Smith on April 23. 
•    Her 311 career draw controls already rank second in program history behind Trisha Babson's 354. 

EXPERIENCE ON D
•    In addition to the All-NEWMAC trio of Hacker, Manning and Murphy, Babson returns five starters in all from a defense that ranked second in the conference in caused turnovers per game (9.48) and was third in goals against average (10.24). 
•    Senior Zoë Michaud contributed 17 ground balls and 13 caused turnovers in 20 starts, while classmate Abbie Downer finished the year with 17 ground balls and five caused turnovers. 
•    Junior Sophie Shuman also appeared in 16 games making four starts and contributing six caused turnovers and six ground balls for the Green and White. 

CHALLENGES AHEAD
•    Babson will five teams that were ranked in the IWLCA preseason poll, beginning with Sunday's test against the defending Division III national champions, No. 1 Middlebury. 
•    The Beavers travel to Chicago to take on the 19th-ranked Maroons on March 10 and host No. 13 Trinity on March 24 before going on the road for games against No. 22 MIT on April 10 and No. 18 Amherst on April 14. 

FORMER BANTAMS JOIN THE BEAVERS
•    In addition to its eight-player first-year class, graduate students Anna Costello and Lily Ives join the Green and White following successful careers at Trinity. 
•    Costello started all 34 games she played on defense from 2019-22, totaling 69 caused turnovers and 58 ground balls. 
•    Ives started all 35 games over the last two seasons and produced 106 goals and 33 assists for 139 points in 44 career outings for the Bantams from 2020-23. 

NUMBERS TO KNOW
•    The Beavers were 12-2 last season and have won 24 of 27 games over the last two years when leading at halftime. 
•    Babson went 13-0 last spring when scoring at least 12 goals. 
•    The Green and White is 18-2 over the last two seasons when scoring four or more free-position goals. 
•    Babson went 7-2 last spring when recording 10 or more caused turnovers.

UP NEXT
•    The Beavers host No. 1 Middlebury on Sunday at 1 p.m.