Men's Lacrosse vs. Western Connecticut
NCAA Tournament First Round
Wednesday, May 7 | 4:00 p.m.
MacDowell Field | Babson Park, Mass.

WHAT TO KNOW
• After capturing its third consecutive NEWMAC championship last Saturday, Babson will open play in the NCAA Division III Tournament on Wednesday with a first-round game at MacDowell Field.
• The Beavers will take on Little East Conference champion Western Connecticut on Wednesday at 4 p.m., with the winner advancing to a second-round game on Saturday at Wesleyan in Middletown, Conn. at 12 p.m.

SERIES HISTORY
• First meeting 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
NCAA Tournament Appearance: 5th
Best NCAA Finish: Third Round (2023, 2024)
• Babson (13-5) earned its third straight NCAA berth and fourth in five seasons with a 12-10 come-from-behind victory over top-seeded Springfield in the NEWMAC title game last Saturday in Springfield.
• Sophomore Sam Sisk scored two of his three goals during a decisive eight-goal run in the second half for the Beavers. Sophomore Camden Matthews finished with two goals and one assist, junior Will Reading scored twice, won 12-of-24 face-offs and led all players with eight ground balls, and classmate Bennett Smith contributed a goal and an assist as well four ground balls and two caused turnovers. Graduate student Tripp Clark scooped up seven ground balls and had two forced turnovers, while senior Alex Fascilla made 11 saves in the victory.
• Sophomore Seamus Rooney (29-22-51) is among the conference leaders in both points and assists, Matthews (34-8-42) is eighth in the NEWMAC in goals, and the quartet of Sisk (22-14-36), Smith (15-14-29), and graduate students Topher Bower (11-15-26) and Justin Greene (19-6-25) give the Green and White six players with at least 25 points this spring.
• Reading has won .542 percent of his face-offs (188-of-347), Clark (56 GB, 23 CT) and senior Brendan Maher (41 GB, 20 CT) have combined to force 43 turnovers, and Fascilla ranks 32nd in Division III in goals against average (8.98) and 36th in save percentage (.573) in his 18 starts. 

SCOUTING THE WOLVES
NCAA Tournament Appearance: 3rd
Best NCAA Finish: Second Round (2023)
• Western Connecticut (13-6) has won 10 straight games after capturing a 22-7 victory over UMass Boston in the Little East Conference (LEC) Tournament final last Sunday in Danbury, Conn. 
• Graduate student Jonathan Russack-Baker dominated the faceoff with 19 wins in 26 attempts and scooped 13 ground balls for the Wolves, who put the game out of reach with nine unanswered goals in the first 17 minutes. Grad student Liam Ford (4-3-7), senior Julian Duque (5-2-7) and grad student Tyler Starrett (5-1-6) did much of the damage on offense, junior James Gitzinger had three caused turnovers and two ground balls, and first-year Jake Kelly made 15 saves to earn the win in goal.
• Duque (57-20-77) leads the LEC in goals and ranks second in points, Starrett (49-8-57) is fourth in goals and eighth in points, Ford (39-15-54) is ninth in goals, and senior Matt Sweeney (22-27-49) is third in the league in assists.
•  Russack-Baker ranks 13th in Division III with a .686 face-off winning percentage (293-of-427) and eighth in ground balls per game (10.89), while Gitzinger has 26 caused turnovers and 32 ground balls. Kelly (7.67 GAA, .533 svs. Pct) is 9-2 in 11 starts and ranks ninth in Division III in goals against average.

BABSON IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT 
• The Beavers are making their fourth NCAA Tournament appearance in the last five seasons and the fifth in program history. 
• Babson defeated No. 19 Denison in the second round of last year's tournament, 12-10, before falling to N. 2/3 RIT, 23-16, in the third round in Rochester, N.Y.
• The Green and White defeated Williams, 16-10, in the second round of the 2023 championships for the program's first NCAA Tournament win before falling to RIT, 20-9, in the third round.
• The first NCAA appearance for Babson was back in 1979, when the Beavers fell to Maryland-Baltimore County, 22-7, in Baltimore.

WESTCONN IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
• The Wolves are making their third NCAA Tournament appearance and second in the past three seasons.
• WestConn defeated New England College, 17-9, in the first round in Henniker, N.H., in 2023 before falling to RIT, 20-8, in the second round.
• The first NCAA appearance for WestConn was back in 2008, when the Wolves fell to No. 15 Western New England, 14-4, in Springfield, Mass.

COMMON OPPONENT
• UMass Boston is the only common opponent this season between WestConn and Babson.
• Babson defeated the Beacons 19-6 at MacDowell Field on April 1, while WestConn knocked off UMB 21-5 on April 10 and 22-7 last Saturday, both games in Danbury, Conn.

FRIENDLY CONFINES
• Babson is 9-1 at MacDowell Field and 18-1 at home over the last two seasons.
• The Beavers are 20-2 at home going back to the start of the 2023 campaign.
• The Green and White have outscored their opponents 152-82 in the 10 games this spring.

TOURNAMENT TESTED
• Bower has played in 11 post-season games in the past three years and has produced 14 goals and 10 assists for 24 points, along with 12 ground balls. Graduate student Jacob Tauss (19-3-22) has played in 11 career post-season games, and Smith (9-15-24) has been in 10 games the past three years.
• Graduate student Sammy Kalishman and Maher have played in 12 post-season games over the past three years, with Kalishman tallying 25 ground balls and eight caused turnovers along with two goals and two assists, while Maher has contributed 11 caused turnovers and 23 ground balls.
• Wang (10-4-14, 9 GB), Mondello (6-1-7), and Matthews (4-1-5) have played six postseason games over the past two seasons.
• Reading has appeared in six post-season contests over the past two seasons, winning 43-of-71 faceoffs (.606) and scooping up 26 ground balls.

MOVING UP THE CHARTS
• Bower (67-88-155) ranks third in program history in assists and ninth all-time in points. 
• Smith (48-74-122) is sixth on the Beavers' all-time list in assists, while Reading (260-496) ranks fourth in face-off wins. 
• Kalishman's (170) ranks 12th all-time in ground balls, Maher (75 CT, 157 GB) is sixth in caused turnovers and 14th in ground balls, and Fascilla is fourth all-time with 23 wins and is currently eighth with 412 saves, all but three of which have come over the last two seasons.

BEAVER BITES
• Babson enters the NCAA Tournament ranked 10th in Division III with an .895 clearing percentage. 
• The Beavers were 2-2 against nationally-ranked opponents this season, with wins over No. 19/20 Union (11-9) and No. 14 Middlebury (14-9) and losses to No. 9/9 Bowdoin (12-6) and No. 1 Tufts (21-5).

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Beavers are 9-1 this season and 24-2 over the last two seasons when winning at least half the faceoffs. 
• Babson is 8-1 on the year when leading after the first quarter and 10-2 when leading at halftime.
• The Green and White 13-0 when scoring at least 10 goals and 7-0 when allowing eight goals or fewer.
• The Beavers are 10-1 this season when recording at least eight caused turnovers. 

UP NEXT
• The winner of Wednesday's game will advance to a second-round match-up on Saturday at No. 8/11 Wesleyan at 12:00 p.m. in Middletown, Conn.