No. 14/18 Women's Lacrosse at No. 1/1 Middlebury
Tuesday, March 4 | 5:00 p.m.
Peter Kohn Field| Middlebury, Vt.

SERIES HISTORY
• Babson is 1-6 all-time against Middlebury in a series that dates back to 2009.
• The Beavers have dropped five in a row in the series since defeating the Panthers at home back in 2010.

LAST MEETING
• Susan Rowley '24 scored five goals and added two assists for a career-high seven points and No. 1 Middlebury rattled off 10 consecutive goals from midway through the first quarter to early in the third on the way to defeating Babson, 18-5, on March 3, 2024 at Babson's MacDowell Field.
• Lily Ives M'24 scored two goals and senior Clare Connolly added a goal and an assist for the Beavers. Seniors Jessica Evans and Kathryn Blake notched one goal each, graduate student Eileen Manning scooped up a game-high four ground balls and Connolly collected six draw controls. Senior Kathleen Murphy was impressive in goal for the Beavers and finished with 13 saves.
• Senior Hope Shue contributed four goals and an assist, classmate Maggie Coughlin scored three times, and junior Caroline Adams chipped in with a goal and two assists. Shue also had four draw controls, four caused turnovers and two ground balls, and Adams and sophomore Lucy Bishop grabbed five draw controls each. Senior Gina Driscoll made four saves in 51 minutes in goal in the victory.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• No. 14 IWLCA/No. 18 USA Lacrosse Babson (0-0) is coming off a banner season in 2024, which included second consecutive New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) regular season and tournament championships, an NCAA Tournament first-round bye and second round victory over No. 14 Stevens, and an appearance in the NCAA regional semifinals.
• The Beavers return seven starters and 24 veterans from the team that set a program record for victories in a season, finishing 17-3 overall and 10-0 in NEWMAC play. The Green and White welcome back one All-American (Connolly) and five All-Region and All-Conference honorees (Connolly, Evans, Manning, Murphy and senior Amelia Novitch).
• Four of the top five scorers are back for the Beavers, led by Novitch (41-27-68), who was second on the team in goals and points and led the squad in assists. Blake (34-25-59) had a breakout season on attack, Evans (42-12-54) set career highs in all three offensive categories, and Connolly (36-2-38) led Division III in draw controls for the second straight season.
• Manning (48 GB, 33 CT) is the top returning starter on defense in front of Murphy, a three-time All-Conference goalie who posted career-bests of a 7.94 goals against average and a .471 save percentage in 20 starts last season. 

SCOUTING THE PANTHERS
• No. 1 IWLCA/No. 1 USA Lacrosse Middlebury (0-0), the three-time defending national champions that finished 23-0 last season for the second year in a row, opens its schedule vs. No. 21 Amherst on Saturday before hosting the Beavers on Sunday.
• Shue returns to lead the Panthers, earning IWLCA National Player and Attacker of the Year last year after producing 81 goals and 106 points to tie the program single-season scoring record. Coughlin (25-27-52) was an All-Region honoree and Adams (33-20-53) was a third team All-American. Senior Kelcey Dion (16-8-24) and junior Caroline Messer (26 GB, 16 CT) are key returnees in the midfield, while senior Kylie Wilson (33 CT, 42 GB), a two-time Team All-America on defense, and seniors Madison Paylor (17 CT, 19 GB) and Grace Mumford (7 CT, 16 GB) anchor a defense that allowed just 6.00 goals per game.
• Driscoll (13-0, 6.39 GAA, .387 vs. pct) and sophomore Elizabeth Savage (10-0, 5.62 GAA, .508 vs. pct) split time in goal a season ago.
• Middlebury has lost just one game in the past three season on the way to national titles. The Panthers are 93-2 with four national championships going back to 2019.

HEAD COACH MICHELLE SMITH
• Now in her 14th season, head coach Michelle Smith and her assistants Annika Streeter and Katherine McDonough lead the Beavers after receiving Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) regional coaching staff of the year in 2024 along with NEWMAC co-coaching staff of the year.
• Smith has guided Babson to five NEWMAC regular season and tournament championships while making five NCAA Tournament appearances, boasting a 135-79 career record.

POLL POSITION
• Coming off back-to-back conference titles, the Beavers were voted first on nine ballots and finished on top in the NEWMAC preseason coaches' poll. 
• No. 18 MIT, which lost 10-7 to Babson in last year's league final, earned the remaining two votes to finish second in the poll, while Springfield, Coast Guard and Smith rounded out the top five.

BABSON VS. THE NESCAC
• Sunday's contest is the first of three Babson games this season against schools from the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC). The Beavers will also travel to No. 16/17 Trinity on March 23 and visit Bowdoin on April 13.
• Babson went 1-2 against the NESCAC last season, including a 16-7 victory over No. 13 Trinity on March 24.

NATIONALLY RANKED FOES
• Sunday's contest is also the first of three Babson games this season against ranked teams.
• The Beavers will take on No. 1 Middlebury on Sunday, No. 16/17 Trinity on March 23, and No. 18/13 MIT on April 9.

QUICK ON THE DRAW
• Connolly averaged 10.60 draw controls per game in 2024 to lead Division III for the second year in a row, reaching double digits in 13 of Babson's 20 games.
• She ranks second (228 in 2023) and fourth (212 in 2024) in Division III history in single-season draw controls, joining Kelly McGinniss of Lycoming (239 in 2019) and Holly Hite of Merdith (222 in 2019) in the top four. 
• Connolly's program-record 523 career draw controls rank ninth in Division III history, just 114 behind all-time leader Emily Wadds of Wittenberg, who grabbed 637 from 2016-19.

BEAVER BITES
• Evans has scored at least one goal in 27 consecutive games dating back to 2023, and Novitch has a least one point in 13 straight and a goal in seven in a row going back to last season.
• Connolly has at least five draw controls in 27 games in a row going back to April of 2023.
• Manning has forced at least one turnover in 10 of her last 12 games and scooped up a ground ball in 14 of her last 15 outings.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• Babson has won its last 28 games and 38 of its last 39 contests games over the past three seasons when holding its foes to 10 goals or fewer.
• The Beavers are 26-1 since the start of the 2023 season and 68-4 since the start of 2018 when scoring 12 or more goals.
• The Green and White went 15-0 last season and are 69-3 since the start of 2018 when leading at halftime.
• Babson went 12-0 last spring when recording 10 or more caused turnovers.

UP NEXT
• The Beavers will host Coast Guard in their home opener and NEWMAC debut on March 15 at MacDowell Field at 1 p.m.