No. 20/20 Men's Lacrosse vs. Wheaton
Saturday, March 29 | 12 p.m. 
MacDowell Field | Babson Park, Mass. 

SERIES HISTORY
•    Babson is 31-9 all-time against Wheaton in a series that dates back to 1992. 
•    The Beavers have dominated the series as of late winning 14 straight matchups versus the Lyons since 2013. 
•    The Green and White has won its last nine games against Wheaton at MacDowell Field, a streak that dates back to 2011. 

LAST MEETING
•    Jared Rainville M'24 exploded for seven goals, sophomore Luke Wang scored four times and graduate student Topher Bower contributed two goals and two assists to help the Beavers defeat Wheaton, 24-7, in a NEWMAC Tournament semifinal on May 2, 2024, in Babson Park. 
•    The duo of James Turco M'24 and Grey Sunderland '24 combined to win 24-of-33 face-offs while scooping up 19 ground balls, Chip Quinn '24 led all players with three caused turnovers and Connor Karsh '24 contributed three goals for Babson, which used a nine-goal run spanning the second and third quarters to build a 20-6 lead. 
•    Charlie Racine scored four times and scooped up a team-high six ground balls, Emmett Edwards had two goals and Connor Almstrom and John Drew both made eight saves for the Lyons. 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
•    No. 20 USILA/No. 20 USA Lacrosse Babson (6-3, 1-1 NEWMAC) is looking to bounce back from a 12-6 loss at No. 9/9 Bowdoin on Wednesday night. 
•    Sophomore Andrew Berardi scored twice, graduate student Justin Greene, junior Bennett Smith and sophomores Seamus Rooney and Bruno Batty each added a goal, and senior Alex Fascilla stopped a season-high 19 shots for the Beavers, who pulled within 5-2 early in the third quarter before the Polar Bears answered with back-to-back tallies.
•    Rooney (15-16-31) is tied for fourth in the NEWMAC in assists, sophomore Camden Matthews (22-4-26) has scored 10 goals against two conference foes and Smith (10-9-19) is riding a 15-game points streak and leads the Green and White with four man-up tallies this spring. 
•    The duo of junior Will Reading (78-of-158) and first-year Beck Trafton (28-of-55) have combined to win 49.8 percent of their face-offs, graduate student Tripp Clark leads the team with 40 ground balls and 15 caused turnovers, and Fascilla ranks second in the league in both goals against average (8.89) and save percentage (.575) to go along with 104 saves in nine starts between the pipes. 

SCOUTING THE LYONS
•    Wheaton (6-3, 1-1 NEWMAC) has dropped back-to-back games after suffering a 22-8 loss at Bates on Tuesday night. 
•    Theo Stamatel (2g,1a) and Jack Board (1g, 2a) both contributed three points, Henry Stamatel had four ground balls and one caused turnover, and Almstrom made 14 saves over the first three quarters for the Lyons, who fell behind 10-2 late in the second quarter and gave up eight of the game's final nine goals. 
•    Edwards (27-7-34) is third in the conference in goals and ranks second in Division III with nine man-up tallies, Charlie Goodrich (15-11-26) has five multi-goal games this spring and Theo Stamatel (7-15-22) is sixth in the NEWMAC in assists. 
•    Chris Bodnaruk has won 51.2 percent of his face-offs (105-of-205) while scooping up 38 ground balls, Pason Fielding leads the defense with 26 ground balls and eight caused turnovers, and Almstrom has started all nine games and ranks fourth in the league in goals against average (10.06) and save percentage (.563). 

MATTHEWS EARNS CONFERENCE, NATIONAL RECOGNITION
•    After being tabbed as the NEWMAC Offensive Player on Monday, Matthews landed a spot on the USILA Division III Team of the Week on Wednesday after producing nine goals and two assists for 11 points in wins over No. 14 Middlebury and MIT.
•    He finished with two goals and two assists in the 14-9 win over the Panthers last Tuesday and followed it up with seven goals, including the game winner with 2.7 seconds to go to help the Beavers edge the Engineers last Saturday. 

RECORD-BREAKING BEAVERS
•    Bower, who was held without a point for the first time in 41 games on Wednesday at Bowdoin, has climbed into 10th place on Babson career scoring list with 144 points (60 goals, 84 assists), and he is third on the all-time assist list.
•    Smith (43g, 69a, 112 points) has moved up to sixth on the program's career assist chart. 
•    Senior Brendan Maher's 62 caused turnovers rank sixth on the program's all-time list, while graduate student Sammy Kalishman has moved up to 13th on Babson's career list with 148 ground balls.

X FACTOR
•    Reading won 12-of-16 face-offs in last Saturday's win over MIT and has won 61.5 percent (16-of-26) over the last two games. 
•    Trafton won 11-of-16 (.688) in the victory over the Engineers in three games going back to the win over MIT he is winning 61.2 percent of his face-offs (19-of-31). 
•    Despite going 7-of-34 in the loss to Bates, Wheaton has won 59.2 percent of its face-offs in NEWMAC games against Emerson and Coast Guard. 

NUMBERS TO KNOW
•    Babson is 4-1 at home this season and has won its last 13 games against NEWMAC foes at MacDowell Field dating back to April 16, 2022. 
•    The Beavers are 4-0 this season and 19-1 over the last two years when winning at least half the face-offs. 
•    The Green and White is 34-2 going back to the start of the 2022 campaign when scoring 14 or more goals. 
•    The Beavers are 4-0 this spring when recording eight or more caused turnovers. 

UP NEXT
•    Babson hosts UMass Boston on Tuesday at 7 p.m.