No. 20/15 Men's Lacrosse at Springfield
Saturday, March 15 | 3:00 p.m.
Stagg Field | Springfield, Mass.

SERIES HISTORY
• Babson is just 9-32 against Springfield in a series that dates back to the late 1970s.
• The Green and White have won three in a row and five of the last six games against the Pride since 2021, including a pair of games last spring.
• The Beavers have captured the last two meetings in Springfield (2019, 2023) after the Pride had taken the previous four and 18 out of the last 19 at Stagg Field going back to 1999.

LAST MEETING
• Jared Rainville M'24 tallied six goals and two assists for eight points and senior Alex Fascilla made 18 saves in goal as No. 10/13 Babson rolled past Springfield, 19-8, to capture its second straight NEWMAC championship on May 4, 2024 at MacDowell Field.
• Graduate student Jacob Tauss and sophomore Rowan Mondello scored three times each and senior Max Mallett and sophomore Luke Wang contributed two goals and two assists apiece for the Beavers. Grad student Topher Bower and junior Bennett Smith collected a pair of assists, senior Brendan Maher finished with two caused turnovers and five ground balls, and James Turco M'24 and Grey Sunderland '24 combined to win 16-of-31 face-offs in the win.
• Graduate student Mason Nocito finished with four goals and an assist for the Pride, who also lost to Babson, 16-13, during the regular season. Grad student Kevin Tierney finished with two goals and an assist and junior Matt Webb added a goal and a helper. Senior Vincent Scialdone won 14-of-28 face-offs and scooped up a game-high seven ground balls and classmate Kaden Quirk made 12 saves in goal in the setback.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• Babson (4-1, 0-0 NEWMAC), ranked 20th in Division III by the USILA and 15th by USA Lacrosse Magazine, won back-to-back non-conference games last week, including a 16-8 victory at Western New England on Saturday in Springfield in its first road game of the season.
• Sophomore Seamus Rooney produced a career-high eight points on four goals and four assists as Babson rallied from a first-quarter deficit to earn the win, with 11 different players scoring at least one goal. Sophomore Camden Matthews tallied two goals and an assist, Mondello added a goal and two assists, and fellow sophomore Cooper Chapman also notched a pair of goals. Graduate student Tripp Clark caused three turnovers and picked up seven ground balls, junior Will Reading won 13 of 26 face-offs, and Fascilla made 13 saves in goal in the victory.
• Rooney (11-9-2-) and Smith (8-6-14) are the team scoring leaders while Bower (1-8-9) tops the Beavers in assists. Reading has a .521 face-off percentage (50-96), Clark has 13 caused turnovers and 31 ground balls while sophomore Bruno Batty (6), first-year Grayson Ambrosh (5), and senior Gavin Bailey (5) have combined for 16 forced turnovers.
• Fascilla (4-1, 7.83 GAA, .580 sv. pct) ranks 31st in Division III in goals against average.

SCOUTING THE PRIDE
• Springfield (1-4, 0-0 NEWMAC) has dropped its last two games following Tuesday's 11-5 loss at No. 10 Amherst. The Pride are 1-3 in their last four outings, all against nationally-ranked programs.
• Sophomore Rory Scanlon and junior Brady Soldo tallied a goal and an assist apiece and sophomore Jake Degnan and junior Nick Savastano tacked on one goal each for the Pride, who trailed Amherst 11-1 early in the fourth quarter. Junior Reece Whitney collected four ground balls and grad students Gavin Carzello and Kevin Tierney scooped up three each, and Quirk finished with a season-high 17 saves in the setback.
• Degnan (9-0-9) leads the Pride in goals and shares the team lead in scoring with Nocito (6-3-9), and the team also relies on offense from senior Riley Burgmyer (4-4-8) and Tierney (7-0-7). First-year Angus Oliveira has a team-high seven caused turnovers, and is third on the team with 12 ground balls while senior Andres Norman (5 CT, 7 GB), Michael Manning (4 CT, 7 GB) and Michael Manning (4 CT, 7 GB) are also key defenders.
• Quirk (1-4, 10.80 GAA, .538 sv. pct) has played every minute of the season in the crease for the Pride and ranks third in the NEWMAC with 12.6 saves per game.

DOMINATING THE NEWMAC
• The Beavers have posted unbeaten conference ledgers the past two seasons on the way to back-to-back NEWMAC championships.
• The Green and White went 7-0 against conference foes in the regular season last spring and going in 6-0 in 2023 to extend their NEWMAC regular season winning streak to 13 games.
• The last regular season conference loss for Babson was a 16-12 setback at MIT back on April 30, 2022, and the last post-season loss was a 12-10 verdict at MIT on May 4, 2022.

ROONEY RECEIVES WEEKLY HONOR
• After a career-high offensive performance in a Babson win last Saturday, Rooney earned his first weekly conference honor on Monday as the NEWMAC Offensive Athlete of the Week.
• Rooney, the 2024 NEWMAC co-rookie of the year, tallied a career-high eight points (4g, 4a) in the victory at Western New England to finish the week with 13 points on seven goals and six assists.
• Rooney is the third Beaver to receive NEWMAC weekly recognition this spring, joining Clark (defense) and Fascilla (defense).

DEFENDING THE DAM
• The Beavers are ranked 42nd in Division III this spring in scoring defense (7.80 goals per game) and 33rd in scoring margin (+5.80).
• Babson is ranked 16th in man-down defense (0.88 goals allowed per game) and 41st in the nation in opponent clear percentage (.728).

STREAKING BEAVERS
• Bower has produced a pair of assists in four straight games to extend his points streak to 37 games.
• Smith picked up an assist against Western New England and has a point in 11 consecutive outings dating back to last year.
• Rooney and Stillwell have both scored goals in all five games this season.

CLIMBING THE CHARTS
• While extending his points streak, Bower has tied Jay Conroy '81 for third on Babson's career assist list with 82 helpers. He has also moved up to 12th on the all-time scoring list with 140 points, one shy of Eric Deehan '92 for 11th and two back of Chi Chi Price '23 for a spot in the top 10.
• With five assists in his last two outings, Smith has matched Brad Otis '00 for sixth place on the program's career assists list with 66 helpers.
• Senior Brendan Maher is currently seventh all-time with 59 caused turnovers and just one behind Drew Thomas '22, and graduate student Sammy Kalishman has moved up to 16th on Babson's career list with 139 ground balls, one shy of Shane Farrell '10.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• Babson is 4-0 this season and 19-4 going back to last year when scoring at least 10 goals.
• The Beavers have won 16 in a row going back to the start of the 2023 campaign when allowing eight goals or fewer.
• The Green and White are 18-3 since last year when forcing at least eight turnovers. 
• The Beavers are 18-1 going back to last season when winning at least half the face-offs. 
• Babson is 29-2 over the last three seasons when leading at halftime.

UP NEXT
• Babson will head to Sparks, Maryland, on Tuesday to take on No. 19 Middlebury at 1 p.m. at Tierney Field, the home field of the USA Lacrosse headquarters.