BABSON PARK, Mass.—Junior Will Reading (Southlake, Texas) won 18-of-26 face-offs and scooped up 11 ground balls, graduate student Tripp Clark (Byfield, Mass.) caused six turnovers and grabbed six ground balls, and sophomore Seamus Rooney (Bay Shore, N.Y.) produced three goals and five assists as Babson College rolled to a 24-4 victory over Western Connecticut State University in the first round of the NCAA Division III Tournament Wednesday afternoon at MacDowell Field.

The Beavers opened play in the NCAA Tournament with a victory for the third year in a row and improved to 14-5 this spring, while Western Connecticut had a 10-game winning streak snapped and completes its season at 13-7.

Junior Bennett Smith (Lake Oswego, Ore.) added four goals and an assist to the scoring parade, while graduate student Jacob Tauss (San Marcos, Calif.), junior Braden Reilly (Reading, Mass.) and first-year Chase Wightman (Little Compton, R.I.) contributed four points apiece, Tauss with three goals and an assist and Reilly and Wightman with two goals and two assists each. Senior Brendan Maher (Melrose, Mass.) helped out on defense with three caused turnovers and four ground balls, and senior Alex Fascilla (Huntington, N.Y.) and first-year Andrew Almquist (Wakefield, Mass.) made eight and five saves, respectively, in goal for the Beavers.

The Wolves got goals from four different players, seniors Julian Duque (Mastic, N.Y.) and Peter Traina (East Moriches, N.Y.) and juniors Matthew Maloney (Bohemia, N.Y.) and Tristan McMahon (Farmingville, N.Y.). Junior James Gitzinger (West Islip, N.Y.) caused three turnovers, senior Nathan Caldwell (Cranford, N.J.) and first-year Nolan Michalowski (East Quogue, N.Y.) collected four ground ball each, and first-year Jake Kelly (Putnam Valley, N.Y.) made 11 saves in goal in the setback.

The Beavers took control from the very beginning, winning 6-of-7 face-offs in the opening quarter, hitting the Wolves with an 11-2 shots on goal advantage and taking a 6-0 lead through 15 minutes. Rooney scored three goals in the opening frame, including two man-up strikes, and sophomore Luke Wang (Simsbury, Conn.), junior Jack Feeks (Georgetown, Mass.) and Smith tallied one apiece.

After Duque put WestConn on the board to start the second period, the Beavers continued the rout with eight unanswered goals to close out the half with a 14-1 lead. Smith and sophomore Anthony Stillwell (Weston, Mass.) notched two each in the quarter, Tauss and sophomores Andrew Berardi (Orleans, Mass.) and Cooper Chapman (Hingham, Mass.) fired in one apiece, and Reading capped the outburst by winning a face-off and scoring with 46 seconds on the clock to close out the frame.

It was more of the same in the third quarter as Babson tacked on four goals by Clark, Berardi, Tauss and Smith to open up an 18-1 lead. WestConn showed signs of life with goals by Maloney to end the third quarter and McMahon and Traina to open the fourth, but that was it for the Wolves as the Green and White closed out the game with the final six goals, two each by Reilly and Wightman and one apiece from sophomore Camden Matthews (Westford, Mass.) and Tauss.

Babson doubled up the Wolves in shots (56-28) and fac-eoff wins (20-10) and had a massive 56-26 advantage in ground balls. The Beavers were 4-for-4 in man-up situations while holding WestConn scoreless in its six tries.

The Beavers move on to the second round at No. 5 Wesleyan on Saturday at 12 p.m. in Middletown, Conn.

GAME NOTES
• Wednesday's game was the first career meeting between Babson and Western Connecticut.
• The Beavers are 10-1 at home this spring and 19-1 at MacDowell Field since the start of last season.
• The Green and White are 10-1 this season and 25-2 over the last two seasons when winning at least half the faceoffs. 
• Reading is 53-of-81 (.654) in face-offs in three postseason games this spring.