Men's Soccer vs. WPI
NEWMAC Tournament Final
Saturday, November 8 | 1 p.m. 
Hartwell-Rogers Field | Babson Park, Mass. 

SERIES HISTORY
•    Babson is 43-9-7 all-time against WPI in a series that dates back to 1974. 
•    The Beavers are unbeaten in their nine eight matches against the Engineers (4-0-5) going back to 2018 although two of the last three matches have ended in a 1-1 deadlock. 
•    The Green and White is 3-2-2 over its last seven fixtures with WPI at home since 2014 but have recorded back-to-back victories at Hartwell-Rogers Field over the last three seasons.
•    Dating back to 2018, six of the last nine matches between the teams have been deadlocked after 90 minutes.

POSTSEASON HISTORY
•    Babson and WPI will meet in the NEWMAC Tournament final for the second time in three seasons and the fourth time since 2014 on Saturday afternoon. 
•    The Beavers are 4-2-2 all-time against the Engineers in the conference playoffs and defeated WPI 2-1 in the 2015 NEWMAC final and 1-0 in 2OT in the 2019 championship game before falling on penalty kicks following a 1-1 draw two seasons ago in Worcester. 
•    All eight postseason games between the sides have been decided by one goal or less. 
•    Saturday's match will be the first between the Beavers and WPI played in Babson Park in the postseason since 2009. 

LAST MEETING
•    Junior Titus Charles scored a goal in each half to help the Beavers defeat WPI, 3-0, on October 25 in Babson Park. 
•    Charles opened the scoring in the 41st minute, junior Alexander Yablonovskiy made it 2-0 in the 59th minute and Charles completed his brace with 10:28 remaining for the Beavers, who got assists from senior Joao Araujo, junior Huey Miller, sophomore Maxi Martinez and first-year Adam Stetson, and three saves from sophomore goalkeeper JB Montague. 
•    Savio Ketnouvong finished with three saves for the Engineers, who were outshot 6-0 in the first half and 11-5 over 90 minutes. 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
•    Second-seeded Babson (9-6-4) punched its ticket to a seventh consecutive NEWMAC Tournament final with a 3-1 victory over third-seeded Coast Guard in Thursday's semifinals. 
•    Yablonovskiy and junior McKenzy Pierre both finished with a goal and an assist, senior Liam Goldstein scored the go-ahead marker in the 50th minute, and Aruajo and Miller each provided an assist for the Beavers, who rallied after falling behind 1-0 in the 16th minute. 
•    Yablonovskiy (9-2-20) is tied for first in the league in goals and fourth in points, Charles (3-1-7) and first-year Connor Hanrahan (3-1-7) have combined for three game-winning tallies, and first-year Will Boecher (2-3-7), Araujo (1-3-5) and Pierre (1-3-5) are tied for the team lead in assists. 
•    Montague is 8-4-2 in 15 starts this fall and ranks second among NEWMAC goalkeepers in save percentage (.826), and is third in both shutouts (5) and goals against average (0.83). 

SCOUTING THE ENGINEERS
•    Fifth-seeded WPI (8-6-5) has won three straight games and advanced to it second conference tournament final in the last three seasons by handing top-seeded and eighth-ranked Wheaton its first loss, 1-0, in Thursday's semifinals. 
•    Eli Marden headed home a free kick by Tora Ito for the game's only goal in the 41st minute and Ketnouvong finished with a season-high eight saves for the Engineers, who have posted three consecutive shutouts while avenging regular season losses to both Emerson and Wheaton to reach Saturday's final.
•    Mike Montabana (3-2-8) is tied for first on the team in goals and third in assists, the trio of Fabio Bastida-Andreu (3-1-7), Adin Pezo (3-1-7) and Nikolas Previte (3-1-7) have combined for five game-winning goals, and Ito and Noah Amorim are tied for the team lead with three assists.
•    Ketnouvong is 7-4-2 in 13 starts this fall and ranks second in the league with six shutouts to go along with a 1.33 goals against average and a .721 save percentage. 

TWO TEAMS, ONE BID
•    Although the NEWMAC is guaranteed to have two teams in the NCAA Tournament with Wheaton currently at No. 12 in the NPI, both Babson and WPI face a must-win situation on Saturday to earn the league's automatic bid. 
•    The Beavers, who reached last year's NCAA quarterfinals before falling in penalties to Middlebury, is seeking a sixth consecutive national tournament appearance the program's ninth bid in the last 11 seasons going back to 2014. 
•    The Engineers are looking to get back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2023 and fourth time since 2017.

CHAMPIONSHIP DRIVEN
•    The Beavers, who have captured 11 NEWMAC Tournament championships since 2002 (2002, 2004, 2008-10), 2014, 2015, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2024), reached the conference final for the 18th time in 23 tries going back to 1999 with Thursday's victory over Coast Guard. 
•    Babson is 5-2-1 in eight conference championship matches played in Babson Park and has been victorious in each of its last two league finals on Hartwell-Rogers Field defeating Emerson 1-0 in 2022 and Salve Regina 2-0 last November. 
•    The Green and White is playing in its seventh consecutive NEWMAC Tournament final and has now reached the league's championship game 15 times over the last 19 seasons going back to 2006. 
•    The Beavers are looking to capture back-to-back NEWMAC titles for the first time in school history after winning three straight from 2008-10 and 2019-22 (no tournament in 2020) and consecutive crowns in 2014 and 2015.

NEWMAC TOURNAMENT TRENDS
•    Since suffering a 1-0 loss to Springfield in the 2018 NEWMAC final, the Green and White is 10-0-1 in the conference playoffs while capturing four titles (2019, 2021, 2022, 2024). 
•    The Beavers have won eight consecutive conference playoff games on Hartwell-Rogers Field since 2019 while outscoring their foes 15-2. 
•    The Green and White is 9-1-2 in 12 NEWMAC final appearances since 2008 and has gone 11-4-2 in 17 championship game appearances dating back to the start of the NEWMAC in 1998.
•    Babson is looking to become the first No. 2 seed to win the NEWMAC Tournament since 2021 when it defeated top-seeded MIT 4-1, while WPI hopes to become the first No. 5 seed to claim a NEWMAC title.

TOURNAMENT TESTED
•    Yablonovksiy has scored four goals in 10 career postseason games, which includes a first-half marker in last year's 2-0 NEWMAC championship game win over Salve Regina. 
•    Araujo has started 10 postseason games over the last two seasons and has seen action in 12 conference or NCAA Tournament contests since 2022. 
•    Junior Will Lloyd played every minute of Babson's four NCAA Tournament matches last November and started  has started eight of 10 postseason games in his career.  

JERSEY BOYS
•    All three of Babson's goal scorers in Thursday's win over Coast Guard – Yablonovskiy (Berkeley Heights), Goldstein (Princeton) and Pierre (West Orange) – hail from the state of New Jersey. 
•    Yablonovskiy has scored a pair of goals in four career matches against WPI, while Goldstein tallied the 89th-minute equalizer in a 1-1 draw with the Engineers in September 2024 in Worcester. 

LEGEND ON THE SIDELINES
•    Babson head coach Jon Anderson '75, who is now in his 40th season, ranks second among active Division III coaches and 12th all-time with 480 career wins. 
•    He 33-11-5 in NEWMAC Tournament matches and owns 48 career conference or NCAA Tournament victories going back to 1986. 
•    In addition to the wins his 98 draws rank third all-time in Division III.

WHEN 90 MINUTES ISN'T ENOUGH
•    No overtime was played during regular season contests for the third consecutive season but all postseason matches will feature two 10-minute sudden-death overtime periods if a game is deadlocked at the end of regulation. 
•    If the game remains tied after both overtime sessions, a winner will be decided by penalty kicks.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
•    Despite last Wednesday's loss to No. 8 Wheaton, the Beavers are 21-1 against NEWMAC foes at Hartwell-Rogers Field going back to 2021.
•    In 14 home games versus conference opponents since October 14, 2023, Babson has conceded just two goals while posting 12 shutouts.
•    The Green and White is 8-1 this fall when scoring the opening goal of the match and Thursday's victory was its first when conceding the first goal after going 0-5-4 during the regular season. 
•    The Beavers are 7-0-1 on the season when scoring at least two goals. 
•    Babson has not allowed a second-half goal in any of its last six matches at home going back to September 30. 
•    The Green and White has limited 16 of its 19 opponents this fall to one goal or fewer. 

UP NEXT
•    The winner of Saturday's math will find out where they are headed and who they will face in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament during the Division III selection show on Monday at 11:30 a.m.