BABSON PARK, Mass.— Graduate students
Joey Allen (Philadelphia, Pa.) and
Patrick McAleavey (Trumbull, Conn.) combined for seven goals and four assists, tournament Most Outstanding Player
Tyee Ambrosh ((Danvers, Mass.) caused two turnovers and collected a pair of ground balls, and top-seeded and No. 4/8 Babson College scored six unanswered goals while holding third-seeded MIT scoreless for a 21-minute stretch in the second half on the way to defeating the Engineers, 15-9, for its fourth consecutive New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) men's lacrosse championship Saturday afternoon at MacDowell Field.
With its eighth win in its last nine games, Babson improves to 16-2 overall and matches the program record for victories in a season. The Beavers earned the NEWMAC's automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time in six years while MIT sees its season come to an end with a 9-8 overall record.
Allen finished with three goals and three assists, McAleavey scored a game-high four goals, and senior
Jack Feeks (Georgetown, Mass.) tallied two goals and two assists for the Beavers. Senior
Bennett Smith (Lake Oswego, Ore.) scored twice, juniors
Seamus Rooney (Bay Shore, N.Y.) and
Anthony Stillwell (Weston, Mass.) chipped in with a goal and an assist each, while grad student
Mason Dorr (Concord, Mass.) had a pair of caused turnovers and joined sophomore
Mark Brown (San Diego, Calif.) with five ground balls apiece. Sophomore
Andrew Almquist (Wakefield, Mass.) made 11 saves for his 13th double-digit save performance in the net while also scoring his first career goal in the second quarter.
Senior Bryce Metalios (Old Greenwich, Conn.) scored two goals, and senior Garrett Campagna (Lancaster, Pa.), sophomore Riley Pierce (Vestavia, Ala.) and first-year Carter Magnano (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.) finished with a goal and an assist each, and senior Oscar Lindenthal (Vero Beach, Fla.) chipped in with two assists for the Engineers. First-year Kaden Fenno (San Antonio, Texas) was 8-for-13 on face-offs, classmate Mason Prettyman (Pittsburgh, Pa.) was 7-for-11, and senior Tim Haarmann (Boxboro, Mass.) caused two turnovers and grabbed three ground balls. Senior Collin Lung (Lynbrook, N.Y.) made 13 saves in goal in the setback.
The Beavers came out strong with four goals in the first four minutes. McAleavey staked the Green and White to a 2-0 lead just over two minutes into the contest, Feeks scored at the 12:23 mark to make it 3-0 and the Beavers cashed in a turnover by MIT for Smith's first tally to extend its advantage to 4-0.
Metalios and junior Denley Kofoed (Centennial, Colo.) cut the deficit in half for the Engineers to close out the first quarter before Smith snapped a scoreless drought of nearly 15 minutes with his second marker to push Babson's lead back to 5-2. Almquist went coast-to-coast to answer Mangano's strike with his first career goal to keep the hosts in front 6-3 with 10:16 to go before halftime.
MIT scored three of the next four goals to close the cap. Pierce fired in his 50th of the season a minute after Almquist's marker, McAleavey and senior Zach Bleil (New Canaan, Conn.) traded goals with four minutes to go, and junior Hayden Calabretta (Lloyd Harbor, N.Y.) cut the margin to 7-6 with 1:35 left in the half. Smith and Stillwell answered with late goals as the Beavers took a 9-6 lead into the break.
After the nine-goal second quarter, the teams combined for just three in the third quarter, all by Babson. Allen produced back-to-back goals with four and three minutes to go in the period and then set up McAleavey for another and Feeks opened the fourth quarter with a goal to extended the Babson lead to 13-6.
Campagna got one back with 8:25 on the clock but Rooney and junior
Camden Matthews (Westford, Mass.) put the game out of reach with Babson's final two goals. First-year Thomas Ludecke (Arlington, Va.) and Metalios tacked on the final two goals for MIT in the final minute of play.
MIT had a 50-46 lead in shots and won 16 of the 26 face-offs but turned the ball over 20 times. Babson won the ground ball battle, 38-38.
Babson will learn its NCAA first-round opponent and location on the NCAA men's lacrosse selection show on Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on NCAA.com.
GAME NOTES
• Babson is 36-12 all-time against MIT in a series that dates back to 1978, including wins in 17 of the last 21 games between the two.
• The Beavers are 6-1 all-time against MIT in the conference playoffs, including 2-0 in championship games (2023, 2026).
• Babson has won 10 consecutive conference playoff games at MacDowell Field dating back to 2016.
• The Green and White earned their sixth NCAA Tournament berth; the first was in 1979 and the other five have come since 2021.
