No. 9/8 Men's Lacrosse vs. Western New England
Saturday, March 7 | 1 p.m. 
MacDowell Field | Babson Park, Mass.

SERIES HISTORY
• Babson is 15-14 all-time against Western New England in a series that dates back to 1987, many of which came before the formation of the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) when the two programs were part of the Pilgrim Lacrosse League.
• The three consecutive wins by the Beavers the past three years were the first meetings between the two schools since 2007.
• The home win by the Green and White in 2024 broke a four-game losing streak to the Bears on MacDowell Field, a streak that ran from 1999-2006.

LAST MEETING
• Junior Seamus Rooney produced a career-high eight points on four goals and four assists as No. 20/16 Babson rallied from a first-quarter deficit to defeat Western New England, 16-8, on March 8, 2025, at Golden Bears Stadium in Springfield. 
• Sophomore Camden Matthews tallied two goals and an assist, classmate Rowan Mondello added a goal and two assists, and fellow sophomore Cooper Chapman also notched a pair of goals as 11 different players scored at least one goal. Senior Will Reading won 13 of 26 face-offs and grabbed a team-high seven ground balls, and Alex Fascilla '25 made 13 saves in goal in the win.
• Sophomore Logan Jenkins had a team-high four points (1g, 3a) for the Golden Bears while Jack Houlden '25 finished with three goals and classmate Nicholas Campagnone '25 scored twice. Senior Chris Catuosco won 12 of 23 faceoffs and tied with senior Kai McDonald for team highs of four ground balls each, and Jonathon Salsbury '25 made 17 saves in goal in the setback.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• Babson (3-0), ranked No. 9 by the USILA and No. 8 by USA Lacrosse Magazine, posted one of the most impressive victories in program history with a 16-12 verdict over No. 4/5 RIT last Saturday in Schenectady, N.Y.
• Graduate student Joey Allen led all players with eight points on five goals and three assists for the Beavers, who saw nine different players score. Matthews tallied three goals and produced four points, grad student Patrick McAleavey scored twice, and senior Jack Feeks contributed a goal and two assists. Reading won 7-of-13 face-offs, classmate Sam Erjavac scooped up three ground balls and had one caused turnover, and sophomore Andrew Almquist made a career-high 21 saves in the victory.
• Allen (8-4-12) took over the team scoring lead despite missing the first game of the year. Senior Bennett Smith (7-2-9) is second on the team in goals, classmate Braden Reilly (4-5-9) tops the squad in assists, and Matthews (5-2-7) is third on the team in goals. Grad student Beau Burns (18-of-32, 56.3) and Reading (20-of-28, 52.6) are both strong on face-offs and have 12 and 10 ground balls, respectively.
• Reading and fellow senior Tyee Ambrosh share team-high honors with three caused turnovers each. Almquist has posted an 9.67 goals against average and a .597 save percentage with 43 saves in his first three career starts this season.

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN BEARS
• Western New England (1-2) split a pair of non-conference home games late last week with a 10-7 victory over Keene State on Thursday and a 19-9 loss to MIT on Saturday at Golden Bear Stadium.
• Senior Jacob Roy led the Golden Bears with three goals and three assists in the loss to MIT. Grad student TJ Dalicandro contributed two goals and two assists and senior Josh Gagnon scored twice. Catuosco won 10 of 24 faceoffs and scooped up five ground balls and junior Levi Kelly-Smith won 5-of-7 draws with two GBs. Three WNE goalies combined for 12 saves, led by junior Jeffrey Wojtowicz who had 12 stops in 41 minutes of work.
• Roy (5-9-14) has three assists in all three games this spring while senor Dylan Nardone (5-1-6) shares the team lead in goals. First-year Logan Proctor (4-0-4) is third on the team in goals and Dalicandro (3-3-6) and senior Thomas Labbe (3-2-5) are in the top five on the team in scoring. Catuosco has won 50 percent of his face-offs (35-of-70) and scooped up 21 ground balls and McDonald has collected 13 GBs.
• Senior Jack Gara (6) and junior David Noel (4) have combined for 10 caused turnovers to lead the defense. Sophomore Chase Beyus (14.09 GAA, .446 sv. pct.) has started all three games in goal and made 25 saves.

ALLEN, ALMQUIST RECEIVE USILA, NEILA TEAM OF THE WEEK HONORS
• Allen and Almquist were on the receiving end of Team of the Week honors this week by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) on Tuesday and the New England Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (NEILA) on Monday. 
• Allen scored a career-high five goals to go along with three assists to match his career best with eight points while Almquist made a career-high 21 saves, scooping up one ground ball and adding one caused turnover in the victory over previously-unbeaten RIT.

ALLEN EARNS CONFERENCE RECOGNITION
• After leading the team to a win over a top-5 team on Saturday, Allen was named NEWMAC Offensive Player of the Week on Monday.
• The grad transfer recorded a pair of goals in the first quarter, had a goal and an assist in the second and tallied twice in the third as the Beavers built a six-goal lead before finishing with a career-high five goals and matching his career high with eight points.

RANKED OPPONENTS
• Saturday's win is Babson's first over a team ranked in the top five of both polls in program history. 
• The Beavers are 3-3 against nationally-ranked foes going back to 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.

MACDOWELL MONSTERS
• Babson is 1-0 at MacDowell Field this season, 11-1 at home going back to the beginning of last season and has won 20 of its last 21 home games going back to the start of the 2024 campaign.
• The Beavers outscored their opponents 176-89 in 11 home games last season, and had a 317-159 goal advantage at home the past two years.

BEAVER BITES
• Rooney extended his point streak to 22 games going back to last season with an assist against RIT.
• Smith is the only player to score at least one goal in all three games this season and has 13 goals and five assists in his last seven games going back to last season, with five multi-point outings.
• Sixteen different players have scored at least one goal this season and 10 players have at least two goals.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Beavers are 2-0 this season and 13-2 going back to last spring when holding a lead at halftime.
• The Green and White have won 17 in a row since the start of last year when scoring at least 10 goals.
• Since the start of the 2024 campaign, Babson is 27-3 when winning at least 50 percent of its face-offs. 
• Babson is 13-1 since last season when finishing with eight or more caused turnovers. 
• Going back to 2023, the Beavers are 16-5 in the month of March. 

UP NEXT
• Babson will travel to No. 16/12 Amherst for a non-conference contest on Wednesday at 6 p.m.