No. 17 Women's Lacrosse vs. Wellesley
Wednesday, April 24 | 4:00 p.m.
MacDowell Field | Babson Park, Mass.

SERIES HISTORY
• Babson is 24-21 all-time against Wellesley in a series that dates back to 1987.
• The Beavers have won seven in a row and 18 of the last 20 games versus the Blue going back to 2007.
• Each of Babson's last five victories have come by a margin of at least nine goals.

LAST MEETING
• Erin Jayne '23, Claudia Dodge '23 and sophomore Lilly Bedard all tallied three goals and one assist and Babson had eight multi-goal scorers and 12 goal scorers in all as the Beavers cruised to a 24-0 victory over Wellesley on April 15, 2023 at Butler Stadium in Wellesley.
• Emily Curtis '23M also scored three goals, junior Kathryn Blake contributed two goals and three assists, and juniors Michaela Downer and Nora Lema added two goals and two assists each for the Beavers. Junior Nicole Darveau also scored twice, classmate Clare Connolly collected a career-high 16 draw controls, and Curtis and senior Eileen Manning caused three turnovers each.
• Sophomore Phoebe Calero had two draw controls and a pair of ground balls for the Blue, and juniors Julee Sharma and Anna Tutek each caused two turnovers. Hannah Pangborn '23 and sophomore Anna Blake Patrick both made three saves in 30 minutes between the pipes.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• No. 17 Babson (13-2, 9-0 NEWMAC) has won two straight games after defeating Springfield 16-9 in a battle of conference unbeatens on Saturday on Stagg Field in Springfield.
• Connolly scored four times and grabbed 16 draw controls and Babson opened the second quarter with seven consecutive goals in the victory as the Beavers clinched at least a share of its fourth NEWMAC regular season title in six seasons. Graduate student Lily Ives and junior Amelia Novitch both finished with three goals and one assist, junior Jessica Evans also scored three times and Blake added a goal and two assists. Graduate student Anna Costello and seniors Zoë Michaud and Manning all had two caused turnovers, while junior Kathleen Murphy finished one shy of her season high with 12 saves.
• The Green and White have two 50-point scorers in Ives (44-13-57) and Novitch (31-23-54) and two 40-point scorer in Blake (28-21-49) and Evans (32-10-42) while Connolly (29-2-31), Darveau (22-5-27) and junior Michaela Downer (20-3-23) all have at least 20 goals. Connolly is third in Division III in draw controls (167), and Costello (38) and Manning (34) lead the team in ground balls.
• The Green and White boast a strong defense as Costello has 41 caused turnovers while Manning has 22 CTs. Murphy has started 55 consecutive games and owns a career-best 7.97 goals against average and a .453 save percentage.

SCOUTING THE BLUE
• Wellesley (3-12, 1-8 NEWMAC) is coming off its first conference win of the season, a 19-11 victory over Mount Holyoke on Senior Day last Saturday in Wellesley.
• Senior Gabrielle Shell tallied five goals and three assists to lead the Blue, while sophomore Finley Tipton scored four times and senior Willa McGough and first-year Lilian Games chipped in with three goals apiece. Tipton also grabbed nine draw controls and Blake Patrick made 11 saves in goal in the win.
• Tipton (50-8-58) leads the team in scoring as well as draw controls (57) and Shell (23-12-35) and Games (24-1-25) are also solid offensive contributors. Sharma and Tutek have 23 caused turnovers apiece, and Sharma (45) and junior Ryan Boone (44) are the team leaders in ground balls.
• Blake Patrick (15.44 GAA, .421 sv. pct) has started 13 of the team's 15 games in goal.

WEEKLY HONORS
• Murphy became the third Babson player this season to earn NEWMAC Defensive Athlete of the Week honor on Monday.
• The Beaver netminder posted a 6.00 goals against average and a .609 save percentage while totaling 14 saves in a pair of wins for the Green and White. 

DOMINENCE IN CONFERENCE PLAY
• Babson is 56-5 in regular season games against NEWMAC opponents since the start of 2016.
• Eighteen of the last 23 victories against conference schools going back to 2022 have been by at least 10 goals.

RACE TO THE FINISH
• With the NEWMAC regular season coming to a conclusion with Wednesday's games, Babson (9-0) has clinched the top seed in the conference tournament and will receive a first-round bye.
• Springfield (8-1), MIT (7-2) and Coast Guard (6-3) have secured the next three spots and a first-round home game on Saturday, while Wheaton (5-4), Smith (5-5), Salve Regina (3-5) and Clark (3-5) are battling for the final three spots in the tournament.

BEAVER BITES
• Ives has scored goals in all 14 of her games this season and 55 consecutive games dating back to her career at Trinity.
• Evans has scored at least one goal in 22 consecutive games dating back to last season.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• Babson has won 23 in a row and 49 of its last 50 games when holding its opponents to 10 goals or fewer.
• The Green and White are 25-1 since the start of last season when scoring 12 or more goals, including 12-1 this season.
• Babson is unbeaten this season (11-0) and 23-2 since last season when leading at halftime.

UP NEXT
• After a bye in Saturday's first round, Babson will host a NEWMAC Tournament semifinal game next Wednesday, May 1, at 6 p.m. at MacDowell Field.