No. 20/19 Men's Lacrosse at No. 18 Williams
Saturday, March 2 | 12:00 p.m.
Farley-Lamb Field | Williamstown, Mass.

SERIES HISTORY
• Babson is 1-2 all-time against Williams with all three meetings coming over the last two seasons.
• The two teams faced off twice last spring, with the Ephs taking the regular season game on April 8 in Babson Park, 11-10, and the Beavers winning an NCAA tournament contest in Rochester N.Y., 16-10.
• Williams won the only previous game in Williamstown, 16-7, on April 9, 2022.

LAST MEETING
• Senior Jacob Tauss fired in four goals and Chi Chi Price '23 scored three times as Babson defeated No. 16/17 Williams, 16-10, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on May 13 at RIT's Tiger Stadium.
• Matt Stucchi '23 (2g, 2a) and Will Spangenberg '23M (1g, 3a) each contributed four points for the Beavers. Senior Connor Karsh added two goals, classmates Topher Bower, Grey Sunderland and Christian Brofft chipped in with a goal and an assist each and sophomore Bennett Smith collected two assists in the win. Sunderland captured 17-of-30 face-offs and scooped up eight ground balls, Hayden Bean '23 and senior Dillon Quinn caused two turnovers each, and Quinn grabbed a career-high seven ground balls.
• Senior Nick Bates scored three goals for the Ephs, classmate Calvin Caputo contributed two goals and two assists and fellow senior Pearse Glavin scored twice in the loss. Sophomore Ryan Johnson added a goal and an assist, and senior Tucker Catlin and junior Jesse Shapiro scored once each for the offense. Senior Patrick Gaul caused a game-high five turnovers, Ian Di Pietro '23 and senior Bjorn Davidson scooped up six ground balls each, and Matthew Freitas '23 made 11 saves in the setback.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• No. 20 USILA/19 Inside Lacrosse Babson (1-1) is coming off a dramatic 14-13 setback at No. 11/13 Union last Saturday in Schenectady, N.Y.
• First-year Seamus Rooney led the Beavers with four goals and an assist, while sophomore Luke D'Orsi tallied three goals and Tauss scored twice. Karsh and Smith registered a goal and an assist each and graduate student Jared Rainville and Brofft finished with one goal apiece. Junior Gavin Bailey led the Beaver defense with three caused turnovers and five ground balls, Quinn added four ground balls, and junior goalie Alex Fascilla came off the bench and made nine saves in 51-plus minutes of work.
• Rooney (8-3-11) leads the team in goals and points and Bower (2-7-9) tops the squad in assists, while Rainville (6-2-8) had five goals and two assists in the season-opening win at Roger Williams. Graduate student James Turco has won 20-of-31 face-offs (.645) and Sunderland has been good on 18-of-33 (.545).
• Bailey has a team-high four caused turnovers and six ground balls, most among non-faceoff men. Senior Bryan Hanley (12.23 GAA, .333 sv. pct) and Fascilla (11.70 GAA, .474 sv. pct) have both seen time between the pipes.

SCOUTING THE EPHS
• No. 18  USILA Williams (0-0) is making its season debut in Saturday's game.
• The Ephs are coming off a 2023 season that ended with a 10-8 overall record after falling to No. 5 Middlebury in the NESCAC Tournament semifinals and being defeated by Babson in the second round of the NCAA Tournament after receiving an at-large berth. Williams competed in its third NCAA Tournament last year, following previous appearances in 2008 and 2019.
• Ranked fifth in the New England Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (NEILA) preseason poll, Williams returns 29 players from last year's team, including senior defender Sam Cragin, a USILA All-America honorable mention.
• The Purple and Gold return their top seven scorers from last season, led by Caputo (40-20-60), senior Finlay MacKnight (25-21-46), Johnson (20-11-31), Glavin (20-10-30) and Shapiro (22-5-27).

BABSON VS. THE NESCAC
• The Beavers went 2-3 against schools from the NESCAC last season, outscoring the opponents 33-20 in the two wins and being outscored 42-37 in the three losses.
• The Green and White are 4-9 against the NESCAC going back to the start of the 2020 season.
• Dating back to 2017, Babson has two wins over both Trinity and Bates and one over Williams.

NATIONALLY-RANKED FOES
• Saturday's game is Babson's second of five games this season against ranked opponents.
• The Beavers were edged by one goal to No. 11//13 Union last Sunday, and will later face No. 7/7 Middlebury, No. 9/6 Bowdoin, and No. 3/2 Tufts.

BEAVER BITES
• Nine different players recorded multiple points in Babson's victory over Roger Williams, and five were multi-point men in the setback to Union.
• Rainville has produced points in 30 consecutive games and goals in 29 straight dating back to his career at Connecticut College.
• Smith has registered points in 10 consecutive games dating back to last season, and Bower and Tauss have points in six straight.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Beavers are 27-2 since the start of the 2020 season when leading at halftime.
• The Green and White are 27-3 going back to the start of 2018 when holding the opponents to eight goals or less.
• Babson is 10-2 since the start of last season when winning at least 50 percent of the faceoffs and 10-1 when winning more ground balls than the opponents.
• Including the win over Roger Williams, the Green and White are 10-2 over the past two years when recording eight or more caused turnovers.

UP NEXT
• The Beavers will play their fourth straight road game on Tuesday at Nichols at 7 p.m.