No. 20/14 Men's Lacrosse vs. No. 19/20 Union
Saturday, February 22 | 1 p.m. 
MacDowell Field | Babson Park, Mass. 

SERIES HISTORY
•    Babson is 0-16 all-time against Union in a series that dates back to 2009. 
•    The Beavers have suffered four losses by three goals or fewer, which includes one-goal losses in 2024, 2017 and 2012. 
•    Both teams are nationally-ranked for the second year in a row entering Saturday's contest. 

LAST MEETING
•    Current Babson graduate student Justin Greene tallied five times and scored the go-ahead goal with 2:29 left in the fourth quarter to help Union defeat the Beavers, 14-13, on February 25, 2024, in Schenectady, N.Y.
•    Michael Shaw finished with four goals and three assists for seven points, Matthew Paolatto won 19-of-29 face-offs while scooping up 10 ground balls and Dan Donahue made 11 saves for the Dutchmen, who built a 7-3 lead midway through the second quarter and did not commit a penalty while converting 3-of-5 extra-man opportunities. 
•    Sophomore Seamus Rooney registered four goals and one assist, junior Luke D'Orsi scored three times and senior Gavin Bailey recorded five ground balls and three caused turnovers for the Beavers, who led 12-11 with just over eight minutes to go and had a potential game-tying shot saved by Donahue with 14 seconds to play. 
 
SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
•    No. 20 USILA/No. 14 USA Lacrosse Babson (1-0) opened the season with a 16-5 win over Roger Williams last Saturday. 
•    Sophomore Camden Matthews scored a career-high four goals, Rooney provided two goals and two assists, and junior Bennett Smith added two goals and one assist for the Beavers, who forced the Hawks into 28 turnovers and got seven saves from senior goalkeeper Alex Fascilla. 
•    Graduate student Topher Bower (16-43-59) and Smith (16-38-54) combined for 78 assists last season, while the trio of Rooney (31-11-42), graduate student Jacob Tauss (33-8-41) and sophomore Luke Wang (25-13-38) were three of four players to score at least 25 goals in 2024. 
•    Senior long poles Brendan Maher (45 GB, 24 CT) and Bailey (17 GB, 10 CT) both earned all-conference and all-region accolades last year, short-stick defensive middie Sammy Kalishman contributed 33 ground ball and 14 forced turnovers, and Fascilla went 12-4 with a 9.76 goals against average and a .593 save percentage on the way to earning an All-America honorable mention. 

SCOUTING THE DUTCHMEN
•    No. 19 USILA/No. 20 USA Lacrosse Union (0-0) returns 32 players from a team that finished 12-6 after losing in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last spring. 
•    Despite losing three of its top four scorers, Peter Kip (46-23-69) earned preseason All-America honors after leading the team in goals, assists and points in 2024, while Emmett Lyne (15-6-21) and Hazen Pike (13-6-19) combined for 28 goals a season ago. 
•    Short-stick middie Patrick Reilly scooped up 67 ground balls and added 11 caused turnovers, long-stick middie John Sula finished with 55 ground balls and 13 forced turnovers, and Shaine Luzeti led the defense with 15 caused turnovers while picking up 28 ground balls in 18 games last year. 
•    In addition to needing to replace one of the nation's top faceoff men in Paolotto, Nick Lynch and Tucker Ward combined to play just over 60 minutes and allowed 18 goals while making 15 saves between the pipes for the Dutchmen, which was picked to finish fourth in the Liberty League preseason poll. 

CLARK EARNS NEWMAC, USILA RECOGNITION
•    After scooping up a career-high nine ground balls and tying for game-high honors with three caused turnovers in his Babson debut against the Hawks, graduate student Tripp Clark was selected as the NEWMAC Defensive Player of the Week and claimed a spot on the USILA Team of the Week. 
•    Clark, who earned USILA first-team All-America honors at St. Lawrence last season, has picked up nine ground balls to go along with 10 caused turnovers in five career games against Union during his time with the Saints. 

SPREADING OUT THE SCORING
•    The Beavers got goals from 11 players and had 14 men produce at least one point in last Saturday's season-opening win over Roger Williams. 
•    Sophomores Andrew Berardi, Sam Sisk and Anthony Stillwell, and first-year Beck Trafton all notched the first goals of their respective careers in the second half of the contest. 

WE GO WAY BACK
•    Greene, who came to Babson as a graduate transfer and scored a goal in his Babson debut on Saturday, will go against many of his former Union teammates on Saturday. 
•    The Norwell, Mass., product graduated from Union last May after producing 35 goals and 25 assists for 60 points in 52 career games from 2022-24. 
•    In addition to Greene joining the Beavers in the offseason, the relationship between the head coaches goes back nearly two decades as Union's Derek Witheford played for Babson head coach Rocky Batty at Wellesley High School.

PRESENCE IN THE POLLS
•    Babson, which went 16-4 last season and advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament while claiming its second straight NEWMAC regular season and tournament titles, was picked to repeat when the conference released its preseason coaches' poll back on February 5. 
•    The Beavers have been ranked in 11 straight editions of the USILA Division III poll going back to March 11 of last season, and have been ranked in every USA Lacrosse Magazine poll since March 25, 2024. 

LEGACY OF 79
•    There will be a new standout, Bennett Smith, donning the No. 79 jersey for the Beavers, which was introduced prior to head coach Rocky Batty's first season to honor the legacy of the 1979 squad, which reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history. 
•    Niall Dillon '19 earned the jersey for his senior campaign 2019 before Lee Sipes '21 M'22 wore No. 79 from 2020-22 followed by Ford Carney '24 the past two seasons.

STREAKING BEAVERS
•    Bower enters Saturday's matchup with a point in 33 consecutive games dating back to March 2023. 
•    Wang picked up an assist last Saturday to extend his points streak to 14 games, while Smith has at least one point in seven straight outings. 

NUMBERS TO KNOW
•    Babson has won 14 consecutive games at MacDowell Field, which is tied for the second-longest home winning streak in Division III behind only Illinois Wesleyan's 18 straight victories. 
•    The Beavers, who went 12-of-23 in last Saturday's opener, is 16-1 since the start of last season when winning 50 percent of their face-offs. 
•    The Green and White has won 40 consecutive games when leading after three quarters, a streak that dates back to 2020.
•    Babson is 6-4 in games decided by two goals or fewer going back to 2023. 

UP NEXT
•    The Beavers host Williams next Saturday at 12:30 p.m.