No. 4 Field Hockey vs. No. 1 Middlebury
Sunday, September 15 | 12 p.m.
MacDowell Field | Babson Park, Mass.

SERIES HISTORY
• The Beavers are 1-12 all-time against Middlebury in a series that dates back to 1996, with six of the losses coming by just one goal.
• Babson has dropped the last seven encounters, including a 3-2 regular season decision at Middlebury last season and a 3-0 verdict in the 2023 NCAA Tournament Final Four.
• The Beavers' only win, 2-1, came on September 24, 2017 at MacDowell Field.

LAST MEETING
• Senior Caroline Segal tallied a goal and an assist and No. 1 Middlebury limited No. 2 Babson to just three shots on goal as the Panthers defeated the Beavers, 3-0, in the NCAA Tournament semifinals on November 17, 2023, in Newport News, Va.
• Senior goalie Bayla Furmanek finished with five saves for the Beavers, who limited the Panthers to just 14 attempts, roughly half of their season average of 28.3 shots per game.
• Seniors Amy Griffin and Lilly Branka also scored goals for the Panthers and Sadie LeStage '24 picked an assist. KK Newton '24 made three saves to earn the win in goal.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• No. 4 Babson (4-1, 0-0 NEWMAC) bounced back from its first loss of the season at No. 8 Williams on Sunday with a 3-0 shutout at No. 7 Bates on Wednesday evening in Lewiston, Maine.
• Senior Berit Sharrow tallied a goal and an assist, juniors Caroline DiGiovanni and Alex Michelotti scored one goal each and senior Jessica Evans picked up an assist for the Beavers. Furmanek was not forced to make any saves to earn her third shutout of the season as Babson finished with a 9-5 advantage in shots.
• DiGiovanni (4-1-9) has the team's scoring lead through five games and Sharrow (2-1-5) and sophomore Helen DiGiovanni (2-0-4) are multi-goal scorers. Evans (1-1-3), Michelotti, and sophomore Ashley Braren have one goal each.
• Furmanek (0.59 GAA, 0.833 sv. pct., 3 SO) has started 52 consecutive games in the Babson goal going back to the start of the 2022 season.

SCOUTING THE PANTHERS
• No. 1 Middlebury (2-0, 1-0 NESCAC), which will host No. 19 on Saturday before traveling to Babson for Sunday's encounter, has outscored its first two opponents 10-1 after last Saturday's 3-1 victory over Hamilton.
• Segal potted the first two goals in the first 10 minutes in the win over Hamilton. Senior Hanna Medwar produced a goal and an assist and junior Georgianne Defeo collected a pair of assists in the win. Sophomore Izzy Redzic made three saves in goal to earn the win for the Panthers.
• Segal (4-2-10) notched two goals and two assists in the season-opening win over Vermont State-Castleton, Defeo (2-2-6) is a multi-goal scorer, and Medwar (1-2-4) is tied for the team lead in assists. Redzic (0.57 GAA, 4 svs.) has made her first two career starts in goal.
• Middlebury has captured the last six NCAA Division III championships, posting a 128-5 record in that span with unbeaten seasons in 2021 and 2023.

BABSON VS. THE NESCAC
• Sunday's matchup vs. Middlebury is the fourth of six Babson regular season games this season against schools from the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC).
• The Green and White are 2-1 against NESCAC teams this season after going 6-2 last season and 4-2 in both 2021 and 2022.
• The Beavers will also face No. 8 Tufts on September 24 and Bowdoin on October 9.

NEWMAC WEEKLY HONOR
• Furmanek was tabbed the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Field Hockey Defensive Athlete of the Week Monday afternoon for the third time in her career.
• Furmanek went 2-1 with a 0.33 goals against average, a .923 save percentage and two shutouts in three starts, including her 23rd career shutout to become the Beavers' all-time leader.

BEAVER BITES
• Michelotti's goal at Bates was her first in 23 career outings.
• The DiGiovanni sisters have accounted for six of the 11 Beaver goals this season.
• Babson is 8-3 since the start of last year against top-20 opponents and 5-3 against top-10 foes.
• Since 2019, the Beavers are 32-8 in the month of September with four of the losses coming against top-ranked Middlebury.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Beavers are 26-1 since the start of last year and 61-1 over the past four seasons when scoring the first goal of the game.
• The Green and White have won its last 57 games over the past four campaigns when leading at halftime.

UP NEXT
• The Beavers will open the NEWMAC portion of the slate next Saturday at Clark at 2 p.m.