No. 14/16 Women's Lacrosse at Framingham State
Friday, April 11 | 4:30 p.m.
Maple Street Field| Framingham, Mass.

SERIES HISTORY
• Babson and Framingham State will meet on Friday for the fourth consecutive season in a series that dates back to 2022.
• The Beavers are 3-0 all-time against the Rams and won the only meeting in Framingham in 2023. 
• The Green and White have won all three of the previous games by at least seven goals.

LAST MEETING
• Lily Ives M'24 finished with seven goals and two assists for nine points to help Babson open the season with a 20-8 win over visiting Framingham State on February 27, 2024, at MacDowell Field. 
• Senior Amelia Novitch tallied five goals and two assists, classmate Clare Connolly scored three times and won five draws, and fellow senior Kathryn Blake scored once and dished out a game-high three assists to lead the Beavers. Zoë Michaud '24 led all players with four caused turnovers and senior Kathleen Murphy stopped eight shots to earn the win between the pipes. 
• Hannah Guerin '24 and Rachel Erickson '24, who led all players with nine draw controls, both scored three times to lead the Rams. Senior Leah Green had two goals, classmate Kaleigh Houlihan finished with four ground balls and three caused turnovers, and junior Bella DiMare made five saves in the loss.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• Babson (8-2, 6-0 NEWMAC), ranked 14th in Division III by the IWLCA and 16th by USA Lacrosse Magazine, extended its winning streak to five games with a dramatic come-from-behind overtime victory over MIT on Wednesday at MacDowell Field.
• Connolly scored five of the last six goals, including the OT game-winner, and finished with a game-high nine draw controls for the Beavers, who came back from a 13-7 third-quarter deficit. Novitch registered three goals, three assists and a team-high four ground balls, and Blake produced three goals and two assists. Senior Jessica Evans collected three caused turnovers, three ground balls and three draw controls, and sophomore Claire Jones contributed four draw controls, two caused turnovers and three ground balls in the win. Murphy made nine saves, including two in overtime, to record the victory in goal.
• Blake (28-15-43) and Novitch (20-21-41) give the Beavers a strong 1-2 punch on offense, and Connolly (29-0-29) leads the team in goals and top the NEWMAC with 129 draw controls. Graduate student Ellie Hilsabeck (17-6-23) and seniors Michaela Downer (15-7-22) and Jessica Evans (14-6-20) give the Green and White six players with at least 14 goals and 20 points.
• Graduate student Eileen Manning (13 caused turnovers) leads a defense that allows just 8.2 goals per game. Murphy has an 8.41 goals against average and a career-best .504 save percentage with 64 saves, 20 ground balls and eight caused turnovers in the crease. 

SCOUTING THE RAMS
• Framingham State (6-4, 2-0 MASCAC) extended its winning streak to four games with a 21-4 rout of Salem State last Friday in Salem.
• Senior Molly Lanier tallied career highs of seven goals and nine assists to go along with seven draw controls and classmate Hailey Baker produced three goals and a career-high seven assists and 10 points for the Rams. Green and juniors Kelley DeBellis and Alessia Lye contributed three goals apiece and senior Maggie Grout chipped in with a goal and four assists in the win.
• Lanier (33-11-44) and Green (35-6-41) top the Rams in scoring and Bailey (12-23-35) and Lye (6-15-21) lead the team in assists. Lanier is strong on the draws with 51 draw controls, Grout (12 CT, 15 GB) and Houlihan (11 CT, 23 GB) contributed on the defensive side of the field.
• DiMare has started all 10 games in goal, posting a 11.38 goals against average and a .494 save percentage with 76 saves.

CONNOLLY NAMED NEWMAC OFFENSIVE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
• A week after being named the USA Lacrosse Magazine Division III Player of the Week, Connolly was honored again on Monday with the NEWMAC Offensive Player of the Week award. 
• The Beaver senior finished the week with nine goals and 42 draw controls on the way to becoming the all-time Division III leader with 652 draw controls. She capped the week with career-highs of seven goals and 24 draw controls in Saturday's 19-7 win at Salve Regina.
• After surpassing the previous Division III record of 637 draw controls held by Emily Wadds of Wittenberg, Connolly ranks second in NCAA history in all divisions, trailing only Maddie Jenner of Duke (791 from 2019-23).

BEAVER BITES
• Connolly has produced 17 goals and 71 draw controls in her last four outings for the Beavers.
• Blake has scored at least two goals in all 10 games this spring, including a season-high five in the win over Coast Guard. 
• Novitch, who has a least one point in 25 straight going back to last season, is tied for 19th on Babson's all-time list with 154 points and 10th with 57 assists.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Beavers are 8-0 this season and 34-1 over the past three seasons when scoring 12 or more goals.
• Babson has gone 17-0 since the start of last season when recording 10 or more caused turnovers.
• The Green and White have won their last 22 games since last season when leading at halftime.
• Babson has won its last 34 games and 44 of its last 44 contests games over the past four seasons when holding its foes to 10 goals or fewer.

UP NEXT
• The Beavers will be back in action on Sunday with a match-up against Bowdoin at 1 p.m. in Brunswick, Maine.