Men's Lacrosse vs. Western New England
Saturday, March 9 | 1:00 p.m.
MacDowell Field | Babson Park, Mass.

Men's Lacrosse vs. No. 6/5 Middlebury
Sunday, March 10 | 1:00 p.m.
MacDowell Field | Babson Park, Mass.

SERIES HISTORY
vs. Western New England
• Babson is 13-14 all-time against Western New England in a series that dates back to 1987.
• Last year's win for the Beavers was the first since 2001 and the first meeting between the two schools since 2007.
• The Green and White won 12 of 13 games over the Golden Bears from 1989-2001 before WNE captured 11 in a row from 2002-07.
vs. Middlebury
• Babson is 0-4 all-time against Middlebury in a series that dates back to 1981.
• After the first two games in 1981 and 1983, the teams did not play for 39 years until the series rekindled in the last two years.

LAST MEETING
vs. Western New England
• Chi Chi Price '23 scored three of his game-high five goals in the first quarter as Babson built a 12-2 margin by halftime on the way to a 17-11 victory over Western New England on March 12, 2023 at Golden Bear Stadium.
• Ryan Kenney '23M scored four goals and added an assist for the Beavers, Matt Stucchi '23 tallied three goals, Will Spangenberg '23M chipped in with a pair and senior Topher Bower collected four assists. Senior Grey Sunderland picked up a game-high nine ground balls and Will Parducci '23 made a career-high 18 saves in goal in the victory.
• Mike Bannon '23M led the Golden Bears with four goals and an assist, graduate student Dylan Hanley contributed two goals and two assists, and junior Zachary Mein added two goals and one assist in the loss. Sophomore Chris Catuosco won 11 of 17 faceoffs and scooped up seven ground balls and junior Jonathon Salsbury finished with 10 saves in goal.
vs. Middlebury
• Price finished with four goals and two assists and visiting Babson led for much of the first three quarters before falling to No. 5/5 Middlebury 18-15 on April 16, 2023 on Youngman Field at Alumni Stadium.
• Kenney, Stucchi and seniors Jacob Tauss and Dillon Quinn all scored twice for the Beavers. Bower contributed a goal and three assists, Sunderland won 19-of-36 face-offs and scooped up a game-high 11 ground balls, and Parducci made 12 saves in the loss.
• Sophomore Cooper DeMallie led all players with six goals, while juniors Russell Thorndike and Patrick Jamin both scored twice for the Panthers. Junior William Munroe won 10-of-18 face-offs, sophomore Drew Dummer led all players with four caused turnovers and classmate Hayden Kern stopped eight shots in the win.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• Babson (2-2) will play its home opener on Saturday after four straight road games to open the season, including Tuesday's 17-6 triumph over Nichols in Dudley, Mass.
• Graduate student Jared Rainville (7g, 2a) and first-year Seamus Rooney (3g, 2a) combined for 10 goals and four assists in the win. Tauss and sophomore Jack Feeks also scored twice, classmate Will Reading won 11-of-20 face-offs and scooped up five ground balls, and junior Alex Fascilla made 10 saves in his first collegiate start.
• Rainville (15-5-20) and Rooney (15-5-20) share the team scoring lead, Bower (5-10-15) tops the squad in assists, and Tauss (8-2-10) is third on the team in goals. Graduate student James Turco has won 39-of-62 face-offs (.629) and Sunderland has been good on 21-of-38 (.553) and have combined for 29 ground balls.
• Junior Gavin Bailey (5) and Quinn (4) are tops on the team in caused turnovers, and Quinn has 10 ground balls, most among non-faceoff men. Fascilla (9.02 GAA, .582 sv. pct) and senior Bryan Hanley (15.05 GAA, .323 sv. pct) have both seen time between the pipes and have one win apiece.

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN BEARS
• Western New England (2-2) is coming off a 19-9 loss to No. 9/7 Bowdoin on Wednesday night in Brunswick, Maine. WNE owns victories this spring over Keene State and MIT, which is receiving votes in the Division III poll.
• Hanley led the Golden Bears against Bowdoin with five points on a goal and four assists while senior Joseph Bussinelli, junior Jack Houlden and sophomore Jacob Roy tallied two goals apiece. Catuosco won 11-of-24 faceoffs and grabbed eight ground balls and graduate student Anthony Gamba caused three turnovers and picked up two GBs.
• Hanley (9-13-22) leads the team in assists and points and Houlden (10-2-12) tops the squad in goals. Those two plus Roy (8-1-9) have accounted for 27 of the team's 52 goals. Catuosco has won 53.6 percent of his faceoffs (45-of-84) and leads the team with 35 ground balls.
• Senior Alex Henry has a team-high six ground balls and Gamba and sophomore Jack Gara have four GBs each. Graduate student Carter Randall (14.77 GAA, .405 sv. pct) has started all four games in goal and made double-digit saves against No. 15 St. Lawrence and MIT.

SCOUTING THE PANTHERS
• No. 6 USILA/No. 5 Inside Lacrosse Middlebury (1-1), which will play at No. 9/7 Bowdoin on Saturday before coming to Babson on Sunday, suffered a 14-12 loss to No. 8/9 Rensselaer on Wednesday in Vermont.
• The Panthers, who led 11-8 after three quarters, got four goals and two assists from junior Billy Curtis, two goals and two assists from senior William Ryan, and two goals apiece from DeMallie and Thorndike. Munroe won 13-of-29 faceoffs, junior Henry Tarr had a caused turnover and four ground balls, and Kern made 11 saves in the setback.
• Curtis (5-5-10) has career totals of 58-75-133 in 39 games and Thorndike (6-1-7) leads the team in goals and went over the 100-point mark  in the season opener. Ryan (5-2-7) and DeMallie (5-1-6) are also strong offensive threats. Munroe has won 22-of-59 face-offs and has picked up 13 ground balls.
• Juniors Nate Ruoss and Dylan Fagan have three caused turnovers each to lead the defense. Kern (12.50 GAA, .490 sv pct.) has started every game for Middlebury over the past two seasons, posting a 19-4 record.

HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE
• After four road encounters to open the season, the Beavers will play their first of three straight home games at MacDowell Field on Saturday.
• The Green and White went 7-2 at home last season and are 14-7 at MacDowell Field since the start of the 2021 season.

BABSON VS. THE NESCAC
• The Beavers are 2-4 against schools from the NESCAC dating back to last season, outscoring the opponents 33-20 in the two wins and being outscored a total of six goals (56-50) in the four losses.
• The Green and White are 4-10 against the NESCAC going back to the start of the 2020 season.
• Three NESCAC schools are currently ranked in the top 10 and five in the top 20 in both NCAA Division III polls.

NATIONALLY-RANKED FOES
• Sunday's game against No. 6/5 Middlebury is Babson's third of five contests this season against ranked opponents.
• The Beavers were edged by one goal against both No. 11/13 Union and No. 19 Williams, and will later take on No. 9/7 Bowdoin and No. 3/2 Tufts.

BEAVER BITES
• Fourteen different players have scored goals for the Beavers and five players have notched at least five goals.
• Rainville has produced points in 32 consecutive games and goals in 31 straight dating back to his career at Connecticut College.
• Smith has a 10-game point streak dating back to last season, and Bower and Tauss have points in eight straight.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Beavers are 28-2 since the start of the 2020 season when leading at halftime.
• The Green and White are 28-3 going back to the start of 2018 when holding the opponents to eight goals or less.
• Babson is 11-3 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.

UP NEXT
• The defending champion Beavers will play their New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) opener against Springfield next Saturday at 1 p.m. at MacDowell Field.