No. 20/20 Men's Lacrosse vs. No. 4/5 RIT
Saturday, February 28 | 1 p.m. 
Frank Bailey Field at Bertagna-Class of 1985 Stadium | Schenectady, N.Y.

WHAT TO KNOW
• No. 20 USILA/No. 20 USA Lacrosse Babson returns to Union College in Schenectady, N.Y. for the second straight week, this time to take on No. 4/5 Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in non-conference neutral-site action on Saturday.

SERIES HISTORY
• RIT owns a 2-0 lead over Babson in a series that dates back to 2023.
• Both of the previous two games took place in the NCAA Tournament third round at RIT's Tiger Stadium in Rochester, N.Y.
• The Tigers won the 2023 game, 20-9 and took the 2024 contest, 23-16. RIT went on to the NCAA semifinals in 2023 and lost to Tufts in the championship game in 2024.

LAST MEETING
• Luke Pilcher M'24 and Kaden Brunson '24 both scored five goals and Allyn French M'24 won 23 face-offs to help No. 2/3 RIT defeat No. 10/11 Babson, 23-16, in the third round of the NCAA Tournament on May 11, 2024 at Tiger Stadium. 
• Senior Bennett Smith totaled five points on four goals and one assist, while Christian Brofft '24, Connor Karsh '24 and junior Camden Matthews all scored twice to lead the Beavers. Jared Rainville M'24 became the program's single-season points leader, Grey Sunderland '24 won 12-of-26 face-offs and scooped up eight ground balls, and Alex Fascilla '25 made 10 saves in the loss. 
• French led all players with 14 ground balls, Jake Erickson M'24 totaled three goals and one assist, and Dylan Bruno '24 and Clifford Gatson '25 both scored twice for the Tigers. Hunter FitzGibbons '24 contributed six ground balls and two caused turnovers, while senior Alex Zborowski turned away 13 shots in the win. 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• No. 20/20 Babson (2-0) earned its second victory of the season last Saturday with a 12-10  decision over Union on Frank Bailey Field.
• Graduate student Joey Allen (3, 1a), Smith (2g, 1a) and senior Braden Reilly (3a) combined for 10 points, and grad student Patrick McAleavey and junior Seamus Rooney chipped in with two goals apiece as Babson came back from an early 4-0 deficit to record its second straight win over Union. Sophomore Andrew Almquist made a career-high 15 saves in goal for the Beavers, who allowed just six goals over the final 55 minutes.
• Smith (6-2-8, 7 GB) has the early team scoring lead through two games ahead of Reilly (3-4-7), senior Luke D'Orsi (4-2-6) and Allen (3-1-4). Grad student Beau Burns has won 13-of-21 face-offs (62.1 pct) and has a team-high 10 ground balls and senior Will Reading has won 13-of-25 face-offs (52.0 pct) and has a team-high three caused turnovers.
• Almquist posted an 8.50 goals against average and a .564 save percentage with 22 saves in his first two career starts this season.

SCOUTING THE TIGERS
• No. 4/5 RIT (3-0) recorded its third straight victory to start the season with a 22-8 verdict at crosstown foe Nazareth on Wednesday in Rochester, N.Y.
• RIT junior Erich Acton, sophomore Ryan Sanders and senior Ethan Harkins each tallied three goals and an assist to lead the Tigers. Senior Tyson Allison and junior David Charney added two goals and an assist and junior Nick DiLauro contributed three assists. Junior Logan Fletcher and sophomore Caden Hewitt had four ground balls each, junior Ethan Spillane won 10-of-16 faceoffs and first-year Philip Minardo won 9-of-11 draws, and Zborowski made seven saves in net.
• Sanders (10-3-13) leads the team in scoring through three games and Acton (8-2-10) and Harkins (6-4-10) are tied for second. Spillane (.583) is the leading face-off man, winning 21-of-36, while first-year Philip Minardo (.593) has won 16-of-27.
• Junior Joe Holenstein has five caused turnovers and five ground balls to lead the defense and senior Alexander Chairs has a team-high nine ground balls. Zborowski (8.33 GAA, .537 sv. pct.) has started all three games in goal for the Tigers.

ALLEN RECEIVES NEILA TEAM OF THE WEEK HONOR
• Babson graduate student Joey Allen was one of six players named to the inaugural New England Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (NEILA) Division III Team of the Week. Players are selected each Monday by the NEILA Executive Board. 
• After missing the season opener on February 14, Allen provided three goals and one assist to go along with three ground balls and one caused turnover in his Babson debut last Saturday in the 12-10 win over Union.
• A transfer from Washington & Lee, Allen joined the Green and White after earning a USILA All-America honorable mention. He recorded 73 goals and 39 assists for 112 points in 55 career games for the Generals. 

ALMQUIST EARNS CONFERENCE RECOGNITION
• After making a career-high 15 saves and tying for team-high honors with five ground balls in the win over Union on Saturday, Almquist was selected as the NEWMAC Defensive Player of the Week on Monday.
• The sophomore made 10 of his 15 stops in the second half to secure the victory. Almquist came off the bench in 19 of Babson's 20 games last spring and finished with 40 saves.

RANKED OPPONENTS
• Saturday's game is the first of five Babson meetings this season against nationally-ranked teams.
• The Beavers finished 2-3 against nationally-ranked foes last spring with all three losses to top-10 teams.
• Babson was also 3-4 against ranked teams in 2024, including 2-2 against top-10 opponents.

BEAVER BITES
• Reading (303-573) became the fourth player in Babson history to reach 300 face-off wins for his career last week and is three away from matching Connor Maloney '18 for third all-time. Reading is also now 18th all-time with 139 ground balls.
• Rooney extended his point streak to 21 games and his goal streak to seven games going back to last season with a pair of goals against Union.
• Smith has 12 goals and five assists in his last six games going back to last season, with five multi-point outings.
• Matthews had a five-game goal streak snapped at Union.

 NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Beavers are 16-0 going back to the start of last season when scoring 10 or more goals.
• Since the start of the 2024 campaign, Babson is 26-3 when winning at least 50 percent of its face-offs. 
• The Green and White are 12-1 since last season when finishing with eight or more caused turnovers. 
• Going back to 2022, the Beavers are 48-2 when taking a lead into the fourth quarter. 

UP NEXT
• Babson will return home to host Western New England on March 7 at 1 p.m. at MacDowell Field.