No. 23 Women's Lacrosse vs. Mount Holyoke
Wednesday, March 27 | 7:00 p.m.
MacDowell Field| Babson Park, Mass.

SERIES HISTORY
• Babson is 24-13 all-time against Mount Holyoke in a series that dates back to 1989.
• The Beavers have won eight in a row and 17 of the last 18 games against the Lyons since 2004, which includes five straight victories by at least 10 goals.
• The Green and White have won four in a row and eight of the last nine at MacDowell Field going back to 2005.

LAST MEETING
• Erin Jayne '23 finished with four goals and two assists for six points as visiting Babson cruised to a 22-3 win over Mount Holyoke on April 8, 2023 in South Hadley.
• Sophomore Lilly Bedard finished with three goals, four ground balls and two caused turnovers, and Emily Curtis '23M and juniors Nicole Darveau and Jessica Evans all added two goals and one assist for the Beavers. Classmate Solana Fahey chipped in with two goals, junior Clare Connolly led all players with 12 draw controls and senior Eileen Manning contributed five ground balls and two caused turnovers. Junior Kathleen Murphy made three saves in the win for Babson.
• Junior Madison Millyan and sophomore Emi Bisson and Taylor Dunn each scored once for the Lyons, who got seven saves from goalie Emma Tower.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• No. 23 Babson (5-1, 2-0 NEWMAC) moved into the IWLCA Division III rankings after a dominating 16-7 victory over No. 13 Trinity on Sunday at MacDowell Field.
• Connolly scored a career-high five goals to pace the Beavers, while Evans finished with three goals and three assists, graduate student Lily Ives had two goals and two assists, and senior Genevive Bushey and junior Michaela Downer both scored twice. Senior Zoë Michaud and junior Kylie McCarthy each recorded three caused turnovers, while Murphy made eight saves in the win.
• The Beavers boast a balanced offense with Evans (16-5-21), Ives (15-5-20), and juniors Kathryn Blake (10-9-19) and Amelia Novitch (12-6-18) all separated by just four points. Connolly has 52 draw controls and ranks 13th in Division III in draw controls per game.
• The Green and White also feature a balanced defense as graduate student Anna Costello and senior Eileen Manning have 12 caused turnovers each and seniors Kayleigh Hacker and Zoë Michaud have 10 CTs apiece. Murphy has a 9.77 goals against average and a .435 save percentage.

SCOUTING THE LYONS
• Mount Holyoke (1-7, 0-1 NEWMCAC) has dropped its last two games following a 21-3 loss to Savannah College of Art and Design back on March 19 in Savannah, Ga.
• Sophomore Emi Bisson netted all three goals for the Lyons, including her 100th career point, in the setback to the NAIA school. She also recorded three draw controls and two ground balls, and junior Ella Phillips, sophomore Marielle Welch, and first-year Syd Baker also scooped up two ground balls each. Baker finished with 12 saves in goal in the loss.
• Bisson (25-9-34) ranks fourth in the NEWMAC in goals and assists and second in points as well as third with 45 draw controls. Senior Hannah Bisson (9-5-14) is second on the team in scoring, first-year Linnea Alsted has nine caused turnovers and 17 ground balls, and first-year Mackenzie Hillman has 16 draw controls.
• Baker (16.17 GAA, .410 sv. pct) has played all eight games in goal for the Lyons and has made 89 saves.

CONFERENCE HONORS
• Evans became the second Beaver this season to received weekly conference honors when she was named NEWMAC Offensive Athlete of the Week on Monday.
• She finished the weekend with seven goals and three assists for 10 points, including four goals in Saturday's 20-3 rout of Smith and a season-high six points on three goals and three assists in the win over Trinity.

NEW NAME ON TOP
• Connolly became Babson's all-time leader in draw controls when she collected a dozen in the win over Trinity.
• She has controlled 363 draws in her career, surpassing the previous mark of 354 held by Trisha Babson '12 from 2009-12.
• Connolly led Division III last year with 10.86 draw controls per game and totaled 228 draws over 21 games. That total ranks second in Division III history behind only Kelly McGinniss of Lycoming who won 239 draws back in 2019. 

BABSON VS. THE NEWMAC
• Babson is 42-4 in regular season games against NEWMAC opponents since the start of 2016.
• Fourteen of the last 17 regular season conference victories going back to 2022 have been by at least 10 goals.

BEAVER BITES
• Babson is 2-1 against ranked teams this season, defeating No. 17 Chicago and No. 13 Trinity and losing to No. 1 Middlebury. The Beavers will face No. 16 MIT and No. 19 Amherst in April.
• Evans has scored goals in 13 consecutive games dating back to last season.
• Manning, Hacker and Costello have all caused at least one turnover in all six games this season.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Beavers are 5-0 this spring, 18-0 since the start of last season, and 60-3 going back to the start of 2018 when scoring 12 or more goals.
• Babson has won 16 in a row and 26 of its last 27 games over the past three seasons when holding its foes to 10 goals or fewer.
• The Green and White are 15-2 since last season and 55-3 since the start of 2018 when leading at halftime.

UP NEXT
• The Beavers will visit Emerson on Saturday in Boston for a NEWMAC match-up at 7 p.m. at Rotch Field.