Men's Lacrosse at No. 5 Wesleyan
NCAA Tournament Second Round
Saturday, May 10 | 12:00 p.m.
Citrin Field | Middletown, Conn.

WHAT TO KNOW
• After an dominant victory over Western Connecticut in an NCAA Tournament first round game on Wednesday, Babson will travel to Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., on Saturday.
• The Beavers will take on the fifth-ranked Cardinals in a second-round match-up at 12 p.m. on Citrin Field.

SERIES HISTORY
• Babson has captured just one of 11 games all-time against Wesleyan in a series that dates back to 1994. 
• The Cardinals have taken the last seven meetings since the only win by the Beavers back on March 23, 1997 at Wesleyan.
• The Green and White are 1-4 in games played in Middletown, Conn.
• Saturday's game will be the first meeting between the two programs since 2008.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
NCAA Tournament Appearance: 5th
Best NCAA Finish: Third Round (2023, 2024)
• Babson (14-5) overpowered Little East Conference champion Western Connecticut, 24-4, in an NCAA Tournament first round matchup Wednesday afternoon at MacDowell Field.
• Junior Will Reading won 18-of-26 face-offs and scooped up 11 ground balls, graduate student Tripp Clark caused six turnovers and grabbed six ground balls, and sophomore Seamus Rooney produced three goals and five assists in the victory. Junior Bennett Smith added four goals and an assist to the scoring parade, while graduate student Jacob Tauss (3g, 1a) junior Braden Reilly (2g, 2a) and first-year Chase Wightman (2g, 2a) contributed four points apiece. Senior Brendan Maher helped out on defense with three caused turnovers and four ground balls, and senior Alex Fascilla and first-year Andrew Almquist made eight and five saves, respectively, in goal for the Beavers.
• Sophomore Seamus Rooney (32-27-59) is among the conference leaders in both points and assists, sophomore Camden Matthews (35-9-44) is sixth in the NEWMAC in goals, and the quartet of Sisk (22-14-36), Smith (19-15-34), 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 .552 percent of his face-offs (206-of-373), Clark (62 GB, 29 CT) and senior Brendan Maher (45 GB, 23 CT) have combined to force 52 turnovers, and Fascilla ranks 23rd in Division III in goals against average (8.75) and 30th in save percentage (.576) in his 19 starts. 

SCOUTING THE CARDINALS
NCAA Tournament Appearance: 10th
Best NCAA Finish: Champions (2018)
• No. 5 Wesleyan (12-5) had a three-game winning streak snapped in a 22-10 loss at No. 1 Tufts in the NESCAC championship game last Sunday in Medford, Mass.
• Junior Will Miller (1g, 3a) and sophomore Matt Morrow (2g) were the high scorers for the Cardinals, who got their 10 goals from nine different players. First-year Jack Doherty won 6-of-17 face-offs and was joined by first-year Thomas Girimonti and sophomore Joe Hurton with three ground balls each. Hurton caused two turnovers and junior Conor Selfridge and first-year Silas Hamblett combined for 11 saves in the setback.
• Graduate student Jack Raba (22-59-79) leads the NESCAC in assists and ranks second in points, and classmate CK Giancola (50-12-62) tops the league in goals and ranks sixth in points. Junior Ben Burnes (42-8-50) is sixth in the conference in goals, and Miller (26-23-49) and 22 James Bailey (21-25-46) are in the top 10 in the NESCAC in assists.
• Seniors Emmett Schillinger (20 CT, 47 GB) and Reef Kabalin (23 CT, 19 GB) along with Hurton (20 CT, 33 GB) anchor the Cardinal defense. Selfridge (10.92 GAA, .556 sv pct.) has started all 17 games and ranks third in the NESCAC with 210 saves.

BABSON IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT 
• After competing in just one NCAA Tournament appearance (1979) in the first 50 years of the program, 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.

WESLEYAN IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
• The Cardinals, who captured the NCAA Division III title in 2018, are making their 10th NCAA Tournament appearance and third in the past four seasons.
• Wesleyan advanced to the quarterfinals in their first appearance in 2005 as well as 2009, and the semifinals in 2006, 2007, and 2017.
• The Cardinals defeated RPI in the second round in 2022 before falling to Christopher Newport in the third round, and were knocked out by St. John Fisher in the first round last season, 15-13.

EIGHT BEAVERS EARN ALL-NEWMAC RECOGNITION
• Babson saw eight players land on the all-conference team when the NEWMAC announced its postseason awards on Thursday. 
• Maher, Fascilla, Rooney, Bower and Clark are all First Team selections, while graduate student Sammy Kalishman, Reading and Smith are Second Team honorees.

COMMON OPPONENTS
• There are five common opponents on the 2025 schedules for Babson and Wesleyan:
 

Opponent	Babson	Wesleyan
Williams	L, 9-7	W, 22-11
Middlebury	W, 14-9	L, 10-9
Tufts	L, 21-5	L-OT, 20-19; L 22-10
Springfield	L, 9-6; W, 12-10	W, 17-5
Bowdoin	L, 12-6	L, 14-10; W 9-8

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 (22-4-26) has played in 12 career post-season games, and Smith (13-16-29) has been in 11 games the past three years.
• Graduate student Sammy Kalishman and Maher have played in 13 post-season games over the past three years, with Kalishman tallying 27 ground balls and nine caused turnovers along with two goals and two assists, while Maher has contributed 14 caused turnovers and 27 ground balls.
• Wang (11-5-16, 10 GB), Mondello (6-2-8), and Matthews (5-2-7) have played seven postseason games over the past two seasons.
• Reading has appeared in seven post-season contests over the past two seasons, winning 61-of-97 face-offs (.629) and scooping up 37 ground balls.

MOVING UP THE CHARTS
• Bower (67-88-155) ranks third in program history in assists and ninth all-time in points. 
• Smith (52-75-127) is sixth on the Beavers' all-time list in assists, while Reading (278-522) ranks fourth in face-off wins. 
• Kalishman's (171) ranks 12th all-time in ground balls, Maher (78 CT, 161 GB) is sixth in caused turnovers and 14th in ground balls, and Fascilla is fourth all-time with 24 wins and is currently eighth with 418 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 10-1 this season and 25-2 over the last two seasons when winning at least half the faceoffs. 
• Babson is 9-1 on the year when leading after the first quarter and 11-2 when leading at halftime.
• The Green and White 14-0 when scoring at least 10 goals and 8-0 when allowing eight goals or fewer.
• The Beavers are 11-1 this season when recording at least eight caused turnovers. 

UP NEXT
• The winner of Saturday's game will advance to a third-round match-up against either Rensselaer or Williams on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. in Middletown, Conn.