No. 5 Men's Soccer Opening Weekend
vs. Occidental | Friday, August 29 | 2 p.m. 
vs. UMass Boston | Saturday, August 30 | 1 p.m.
Hartwell-Rogers Field | Babson Park, Mass. 

WHAT TO KNOW
•    Fifth-ranked Babson opens the 2025 with back-to-back home games at Hartwell-Rogers Field. 
•    The Beavers welcome Occidental from Los Angeles, Calif., on Friday afternoon before facing UMass Boston for the first time since 2016 on Saturday. 

SERIES HISTORY
vs. Occidental
•    First meeting

vs. UMass Boston
•    Babson is 4-0-1 all-time against the Beacons in a series that dates back to 2008.
•    Saturday's matchup is the first between the teams since October 4, 2016, when nationally-ranked UMass Boston equalized in the 85th minute as the sides played to a 1-1 double-overtime draw.
•    Each of the five previous meetings between the teams have taken place in Babson Park. 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
•    No. 5 Babson returns 19 players from a team that captured NEWMAC regular season and tournament championships and finished 17-1-7 after advancing to the NCAA quarterfinals for the first time since 1991 last fall. 
•    Despite needing to replace a number of key veterans, including a pair of All-America selections, the Beavers bring back eight players that appeared in at least 20 matches in 2024. 
•    Junior Alexander Yablonovskiy (6-3-15) finished third on the team in scoring, senior James Modiano contributed two goals and three assists for seven points, and junior McKenzy Pierre chipped in with three goals and one assist for seven points. 
•    Senior center back Liam Goldstein (2-2-6) and senior midfielder Joao Araujo (2-2-6) both earned All-NEWMAC accolades a season ago, while junior Will Lloyd was one of two players to start all 25 matches last season. 
 
SCOUTING THE TIGERS
•    Occidental brings back 17 players from a team that lost just once over the final two months of the season and finished 9-3-6 overall after reaching the semifinals of the SCIAC Tournament. 
•    Aiden Aley (3-4-10) and Vicente Navarro (2-2-6) both earned all-conference honors in 2024, Devin Bening contributed three goals and Tyler Na-Nakornpanom (2-1-5) has contributed 14 goals over the last three seasons for the Tigers. 
•    Eddie Siladie tied for the team lead with four assists, Carlos Abram made two saves on the way to posting a shutout in his only start last season, and Joseph Bassett is 1-1 with a 0.94 goals against average and one shutout while stopping 12 of 16 shots in nine career appearances. 
•    Occidental received once first-place vote and was picked to finish third in the SCIAC preseason poll. 

SCOUTING THE BEACONS
•    UMass Boston returns 18 players from a team that finished 10-1-6 overall and went unbeaten over its final 15 matches before being ousted from the Little East Conference Tournament on penalty kicks following a 0-0 draw with Rhode Island College. 
•    Eduardo Chirico finished second on the team in scoring with five goals and three assists for 13 points, Patrick Garcia and Rafael Gross both scored four times, and John Arruda contributed three goals and two assists for eight points. 
•    JJ Devine, who went 1-1-2 with a 0.86 goals against average in five games, and Victor Reyes, who made four saves in 62 minutes of action, are the top returning goalkeepers for the Beacons, who conceded just nine goals while keeping 10 clean sheets in 2024. 
•    UMass Boston collected six of nine first-place votes to finish atop the LEC preseason coaches' poll. 

POLL POSITION
•    Babson, which has secured at least a share of four of the last six NEWMAC regular season titles, claimed seven of nine first-place votes and was picked to repeat when the league released its preseason coaches' poll last week. 
•    Additionally, the Beavers begin the season at No. 5 in the United Soccer Coaches poll, which is their highest national ranking since opening the 2011 campaign at No. 14. 

LEGENDARY STATUS
•    Entering his 40th season at Babson, head coach Jon Anderson '75 ranks second among active Division III coaches with a 471 wins behind only Paul McGinlay of Trinity (Texas). The Beavers defeated McGinlay's Tigers 2-0 in last year's NCAA Tournament sectional semifinals.
•    Anderson, who boasts the second longest tenure among active coaches in all of the NCAA behind only Tony Martone of Merrimack (44 years), ranks 13th all-time on the Division III wins list and also is first among active coaches and third all-time with 94 draws during his time at Babson. 
•    A four-time regional coach of the year, Anderson has led the Green and White to 16 conference championships and 21 NCAA Tournament appearances, and his guided his team to at least 11 victories in 19 of the last 20 campaigns going back to 2004. 

STREAKING BEAVERS
•    Babson went unbeaten in its final 11 matches of the 2024 campaign (10-0-1) with the lone draw coming after 110 minutes in the national quarterfinals at Middlebury. 
•    The Beavers finished last season by keeping eight consecutive clean sheets and have not conceded a goal in over 807 minutes going back to a 2-1 win at MIT on October 26, 2024. 
•    The Green and White has not allowed a goal at home in over 817 minutes going back to a 1-1 draw with Amherst on September 24, 2024.  

HOME SWEET HOME
•    Babson, which will open with three straight games at Hartwell-Rogers Field, is unbeaten in 20 straight matches (15-0-5) at home since suffering a 2-1 loss to Connecticut College on September 23, 2023. 
•    The Beavers have won their last nine outings on Hartwell-Rogers without conceding a goal, and the streak is tied for second in Division III behind only Trinity (Texas), which boasts an 11-game home winning streak.
•    Since the start of the 2022 campaign, Babson is 28-2-6 at home. 

DEFENDING THE DAM
•    Senior Derek Polanco and sophomore JB Montague are two of three goalies competing to replace Walker White '25, who became just the third Beavers' keeper to earn All-America honors after leading Division III with a 0.41 goals against average last fall. 
•    Polanco has appeared in four games, including a shutout victory in the 2023 NEWMAC semifinals in his first career start, while Montague stopped the only two shots he faced over 61 minutes in three games as a rookie in 2024. 

NUMBERS TO KNOW
•    Babson is 6-0-2 in season openers since 2016. 
•    The Beavers were 17-0-3 during the 2024 campaign when scoring the opening goal of the match. 
•    Over the last three seasons, the Green and White is 40-1-16 when conceding one goal or fewer. 
•    Babson was 12-0 last fall when scoring at least two goals. 

UP NEXT
•    The Beavers will conclude their three-game home stand to open the season when they face Wesleyan on September 6 at 11 a.m.