No. 16 Women’s Lacrosse Meets No. 6 Wesleyan in NCAA Tournament Second Round on Sunday

No. 16 Women’s Lacrosse at No. 6 Wesleyan
NCAA Tournament First Round

Sunday, May 11 | 1:00 p.m.
Smith Field | Middletown, Conn.

WHAT TO KNOW

• No. 14 Babson earned an at-large berth in the NCAA Division III Tournament and is making its third straight appearance and 11th in program history. 

• The winner of Sunday’s second round contest will advance to the Round of 16 next weekend.

SERIES HISTORY

•    Babson is 6-12 all-time against Wesleyan in a series that dates back to 1994.

•    The Cardinals have won eight in a row against the Beavers since 2015.

•    The Green and White enters Sunday’s contest looking for its first road win in the series since 2012.

LAST MEETING

•    Olivia Lai and Laura Baine both finished with four goals and one assist to help Wesleyan defeat Babson, 15-5, on March 8, 2023, in Middletown, Conn.

•    Chessy Greenwald contributed two goals and three assists and Julia Noyes scooped up five ground balls and added three caused turnovers for the Cardinals, built an early 7-1 lead and ended the game with seven unanswered goals to pull away. 

•    Emily Curtis M’23 scored three times and had two caused turnovers, Claudia Dodge ’23 chipped in with two goals and senior Kathleen Murphy made a then-career-high 14 saves for the Beavers, who were down just 8-5 midway through the third quarter. 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS

NCAA Tournament Appearance: 11th

Best NCAA Finish: Round of 16 (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2024)

• No. 16 Babson (15-3) has won 12 of its last 13 games after cruising past Worcester State 21-9 in the opening round of the tournament on Saturday afternoon.

• Senior Amelia Novitch finished with seven goals and six assists for a career-high 13 points, classmate Clare Connolly scored six times and matched her career high with 24 draw controls, and fellow senior Kathryn Blake added four goals and three assists for the Beavers, who took control of the game with a seven-goal first-quarter run and tallied nine straight markers in the second half to put the game away. 

• Novitch (41-41-82) and Blake (50-24-74) have both achieved new career highs in scoring, Connolly (58-3-61) leads the team in goals and ranks second in Division III in draw controls (235), and graduate student Ellie Hilsabeck (29-10-39), senior Jessica Evans (27-10-37) and classmate Michaela Downer (24-8-32) give the Green and White six players with at least 30 points.

• Evans is second on the team in ground balls (31), draw controls (27) and caused turnovers (17), graduate student Eileen Manning leads the defense with 25 caused turnovers and Murphy has a 9.00 goals against average and career-best .471 save percentage to go along with 18 forced turnovers.

SCOUTING THE CARDINALS

NCAA Tournament Appearance: 7th

Best NCAA Finish: National semifinalist (2019)

•    No. 6 Wesleyan (13-5) has won seven of its last eight games and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament for the seventh time since 2017 after falling 13-7 to No. 1 Tufts in the NESCAC final last Sunday. 

•    Elle Priesing and Dylan Green both scored twice, Bridget Horst led all players with three caused turnovers and Izzy Weintraub finished with 10 saves for the Cardinals, who trailed 6-5 early in the second quarter before the Jumbos scored seven of the next eight goals to pull away. 

•    Sam DeLeo (25-23-48) has a point in all but one game this spring and leads the team in assists, Priesing (30-13-43) has converted 9-of-13 free-position chances, Green (27-16-43) is second on the squad with 26 draw controls, and Kiara Tangney (29-6-35) has contributed a team-high 32 draw controls to go along with 16 caused turnovers on the year.

•    Madeline Johnson leads the defense with 29 forced turnovers, Lindsey Diomede has picked up 27 ground balls to go along with 24 draw controls and 21 caused turnovers, and Weintraub ranks 17th in Division III in goals against average (7.74) and 26th nationally in save percentage (.504).

2024 NCAA TOURNAMENT RECAP

• After receiving a first-round bye, No. 15 Babson held off a second half rally to defeat No. 14 Stevens Institute of Technology, 11-9, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on May 12, 2024 at Springfield College’s Stagg Field.

• Lily Ives M’24 and Evans scored three goals apiece and Murphy made 14 saves in the win. Novitch scored two goals, Blake added a goal and two assists, and Nicole Darveau ’24 and Michaela Downer scored once each for the Green and White, while Connolly grabbed five draw controls.

• Babson had its five-game winning streak snapped in a 15-10 regional semifinal lost to No. 5 Salisbury. Novitch scored three goals to lead the Beavers while Ives tallied a goal and two assists. Connolly, Evans and Blake notched two goals apiece and Connolly collected a game-high 10 draw controls.  

NCAA POSTSEASON HISTORY

• After making five straight NCAA Tournament appearances from 2007-11, the Beavers have competed in five of the last seven tournaments since 2017, compiling an aggregate record of 7-10 in 10 visits to the national tourney.

• The Beavers, have reached the Sweet 16 five times, recorded their first second round NCAA Tournament victory last season.

NINE BEAVERS EARN ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS

• Connolly was selected as the NEWMAC Offensive Player of the Year and Michelle Smith and her three assistants were honored as the Coaching Staff of the Year when the NEWMAC announced its postseason awards on Wednesday.

• Connolly was joined on the All-NEWMAC First Team by Manning, Murphy, Evans, Novitch, and sophomore Claire Jones, while Blake, senior Solana Fahey and sophomore Lyndsey Newsome earned Second Team honors.

RECORD-SETTING SATURDAY

• Novitch’s 13 points matched the Beavers’ NCAA Tournament single-game record set by Emily Curtis M’23, who put up eight goals and five assists in a 23-8 win over Westfield State in 2023. 

• Novitch also moved into second place on Babson’s single-season assists chart, and she and Blake became just the program’s sixth and seventh players over the last 12 years to surpass 70 points in a season.

• The Beavers recorded their 15th win of the year, which is tied with the 2007, 2009 and 2010 squads for the third most wins in a season behind only the the 2008 team that won 16 games and last year’s squad, which set a single-season record wtih 17 victories.

SENIOR MILESTONES

• Four Babson seniors have scored their 100th career goal this season, including Novitch (118), Blake (117), Connolly (116) and Evans (105), giving the program 23 100-goal scorers

• Connolly’s 758 draw controls are the most in Division III history and just 33 shy of the all-time NCAA record of 791 set by Maddie Jenner of Duke from 2019-23. 

• Novitch is now tied with Erin Jayne ’23 for fourth in school history with 77 assists and tied for 12th on the program’s career list with 195 points. has moved up to fifth on the career assist mark, and Blake (56) is 11th.

• Murphy owns the program records for victories with a 58-20 mark and minutes with 4212, and ranks fourth in saves (509). She currently ranks in the top-six all-time with a 9.29 goals against average and a .441 save percentage.

POSTSEASON NUMBERS

• Evans has recorded 32 points (26g, 6a) in 10 post-season games over the last three seasons, while Novitch has 23 points (17g, 6a) and Blake has 19 points (15g, 4a) in those 10 games.

• Connolly has collected 91 draw controls in 10 post-season games the past three years, and Manning has accumulated 16 caused turnovers and 22 ground balls over 12 career playoff games.

• Murphy has an 8-4 career record in 12 postseason starts with a 10.88 goals against average and a .428 save percentage.

BEAVER BITES

• Novitch has nine multi-goal performances in her last 11 games, totaling 13 games this season with at least two goals.

• Blake has scored at least two goals in 17 of her 18 games this spring, with a season-high five goals against both Coast Guard and Wellesley.

• Connolly has a team-high 12-game scoring streak, with multiple goals in 11 of those games.

NUMBERS TO KNOW

• Babson is 13-0 this season and 28-0 over the past two seasons when leading at halftime.

• The Beavers are 15-0 this season and 41-1 over the past three seasons when scoring 12 or more goals.

• The Green and White is 11-0 this season and 24-0 dating back to last season when recording more ground balls than their opponents.

• Babson is 9-2 away from Babson Park this season and 28-10 away from home since the start of the 2022 season.

UP NEXT

• The winner of Sunday’s game will face either 23rd-ranked Rowan or Western Connecticut State next Saturday.