No. 18 Women's Lacrosse at Wheaton
Wednesday, April 17 | 7:00 p.m.
Diane Nordin '80 Athletic Field | Norton, Mass.

SERIES HISTORY
• Babson is 28-16 all-time against Wheaton in a series that dates back to 1987.
• The Beavers have won eight consecutive games in the series since the Lyons won four in a row in 2014 and 2015.
• The Green and White have won three in a row and seven of the last 11 games in Norton going back to 2008.

LAST MEETING
• Emily Curtis '23M and Claudia Dodge '23 combined for seven goals and four assists and junior Clare Connolly collected 14 draw controls as Babson rolled to a 19-8 victory over Wheaton on April 12, 2023, at MacDowell Field.
• Junior Jessica Evans contributed three goals and one assist for the Beavers, while Erin Jayne '23, junior Michaela Downer, and sophomore Lilly Bedard all scored twice, and Anna Katherine Sypniewski '23 and juniors Kylie McCarthy and Kathryn Blake added one goal apiece. Junior Kathleen Murphy was impressive in goal with 12 saves in the victory.
• Brooke Harvey '23 led the Lyons with three goals, one assist and five draw controls, senior Avonlea LeBeau scored three goals and Jessie Kilburn '23 chipped in with two goals. Senior Kendall Conwell caused three turnovers and Maggie Ryan '23 scooped up a team-high four ground balls.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• No. 18 Babson (11-2, 7-0 NEWMAC) had its 10-game winning streak snapped with a 15-14 loss at No. 16 Amherst on Sunday.
• Evans led the Beavers with a season-high five goals while graduate student Lily Ives, Connolly, Downer and junior Kathryn Blake scored two goals each in the setback. Connolly grabbed 11 draw controls, graduate student Anna Costello caused four turnovers and picked up four ground balls, and senior Genevieve Bushey contributed a goal and a pair of caused turnovers and ground balls. Murphy made 11 saves in goal, her second-most in a game this season.
• The Green and White have three 40-point scorers in Ives (38-12-50), junior Amelia Novitch (24-20-44) and Blake (24-17-41) while Evans (28-8-36) and Connolly (25-2-27) both have at least 25 goals. Connolly has collected a NEWMAC-best 146 draw controls and Costello (33) and senior Eileen Manning (28) lead the team in ground balls.
• The Green and White boast a balanced defense as Costello has 36 caused turnovers while Manning (19), Hacker (18) and senior Zoë Michaud (16) are all well into double digits. Murphy has started 53 consecutive games and owns a career-best 8.25 goals against average and a .430 save percentage.

SCOUTING THE LYONS
• Wheaton (8-6, 5-2 NEWMAC) is coming off a 12-11 overtime victory at Smith on Saturday that snapped a two-game losing skid.
• Senior Avonlea LeBeau scored four goals, including the game-winner 100 seconds into overtime after scoring the tying goal with 17 seconds remaining in regulation. Sophomore Sara Spielman tallied three goals, classmate Riley Kilbourn scored twice, and LeBeau grabbed five draw controls in the win. First-year Jenna Langan made four saves in goal.
• Junior Lara Finnie (35-14-49) and LeBeau (43-4-47) are the leading scorers for the Lyons, along with Kilbourn (17-11-28), sophomore Jessica Chamberlin (11-14-25) and senior Logan Truluck (16-8-24). LeBeau has collected 123 draw controls,  Senior Ailise Cannon has caused 18 turnovers and scooped up 30 ground balls.
• Sophomore Katie Geis (10.38 GAA, .381 sv. pct) has started 12 games in goal and Langan (10.99 GAA, .459 sv. pct) has two starts.

TIGHT RACE IN THE NEWMAC
• With seven games down and three to go in the NEWMAC race, three teams are within one game of first place in the conference standings.
• Babson (7-0) and Springfield (7-0) are tied for the top spot with MIT (6-1) one game back. Wheaton (5-2) and Coast Guard (4-3) hold down the fourth and fifth place positions, and Smith (3-4) and Clark (3-5) have the advantage for the final two playoff spots.

DOMINENCE IN CONFERENCE PLAY
• Babson is 55-5 in regular season games against NEWMAC opponents since the start of 2016.
• Eighteen of the last 22 victories against conference schools going back to 2022 have been by at least 10 goals.

NATIONAL STATS RANKINGS
• The Beavers are ranked 14th in Division III in scoring offense (16.77 goals/game) and 10th in both scoring margin (+9.54) and scoring defense (7.23 goals/game).
• The Green and White are 18th in free position scoring percentage (.552).
• Babson is 23rd in draw control percentage (.605), 31st in draw controls per game (16.38) and 48th in caused turnovers per game (12.23).

BEAVER BITES
• Ives has scored goals in all 12 of her games this season and 53 consecutive games dating back to her career at Trinity.
• Evans has scored at least one goal in 20 consecutive games dating back to last season.
• Connolly has recorded double-digit draw controls in nine of the last 10 games, and 18 of the past 24 outings dating back to last season.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• Babson has won 22 in a row and 47 of its last 48 games when holding its opponents to 10 goals or fewer.
• The Green and White are 23-1 since the start of last season when scoring 12 or more goals, including 10-1 this season.
• Babson is unbeaten this season (9-0) and 21-2 since last season when leading at halftime.

UP NEXT
• The Beavers will play their fourth straight road game on Saturday with a NEWMAC showdown at Springfield at 4 p.m. on Stagg Field.