Coast Guard Men’s Lacrosse
Saturday, March 18 | 1 in the afternoon
Cadet Memorial Field | New London, Connecticut
SERIES HISTORY
• Babson is 4-3 all-time against Coast Guard in a streak that dates back to 2015.
• The Bears have won three of the last four meetings between the teams since 2018, though the Beavers are 3-1 all-time at Cadet Memorial Field.
• Four of the seven games between the Green and White and the Coast Guard have been decided by three goals or less.
LAST MEETING
• Senior Caleb Holdridge scored two of his three goals in the first quarter and junior Ian Feeley scored twice to help Coast Guard beat the Beavers 9-6 on March 19, 2022 at Babson Park.
• Logan Tobias won 11 of 19 faceoffs and senior Dan Lucas finished with 12 saves for the Bears, who built a 5-0 lead in the first quarter for the win.
• Lee Sipes ’21 M’22 had two goals and Sr Who Who Price registered a goal and an assist for Babson, who cut his deficit to two in the fourth quarter.
RECOGNITION OF BEAVERS
• Babson (3-1, 0-0 NEWMAC) has won its last two games and is coming off a 17-11 win at Western New England last Sunday.
• Price scored five times as a graduate student Ryan Kenny added four goals and Sr Matt Stuckey scored three times in his season debut for the Beavers, who led 12-1 with 3:33 left in the second quarter.
• Graduate student Will Spangenberg (11-11-22) ranks second in the league in assists and third in points, Price (15-1-16) and Kenny (13-2-15) combined for 19 goals in two games last week, and junior Topher Bower (2-8-10) had four assists in the win at Western New England.
• Junior Gray Sunderland won 36 of 73 faceoffs (49.3 percent), Sr Kyle Sanborn leads the defense with nine ground balls and three caused turnovers and a classmate Will Parducci owns an 11.03 goals-against average to go along with a .552 save percentage in four starts between the pipes.
INTELLIGENCE OF THE BEARS
• Coast Guard (3-1, 0-0 NEWMAC) looks to rebound from a 10-7 loss at Maritime (NY) on Wednesday.
• Holdridge had two goals and two assists, Gustafsson scored twice and sophomore Oliver Bolton finished with seven ground balls and six caused turnovers for the Bears, who were outscored 6-2 over the contest’s final 23 minutes.
• Gustafsson (12-2-14) has scored nine times in the past two games, Holdridge (7-5-12) leads the team in assists and senior Gage Kruger (8-2-10) has three straight multi-point games .
• Senior Gunnar Brodführer has won 27 of 62 faceoffs (43.5 percent), Bolton leads the defense with 20 ground balls and 12 turnovers and Lucas owns a 9.69 goals-against average and .611 save percentage in four starts.
PARDUCCI WINS WEEKLY RECOGNITION
• After posting a 10.50 goals-against average and making 31 saves in wins over Trinity and Western New England, Parducci was named the NEWMAC Defensive Player of the Week on Monday.
• He stopped a career-high 18 shots in Sunday’s win over the Golden Bears.
ENTER NEILLA’S SURVEY
• After receiving votes in the preseason and Week 1 polls, the Beavers were 10th in the latest NEILA Division III rankings released Monday.
• The Green and White are one of three NEWMAC teams in the poll along with No. 5 MIT and No. 8 Coast Guard.
EVERYTHING IS CLEAR
• Babson enters Saturday’s contest ranked 10th in Division III with an .899 fielding percentage through its first four games, which includes going 43-of-46 (.935) in wins over Trinity and Western New England.
• The Beavers’ first four opponents were successful on just .753 percent of their clear-cut chances and only Union (17-of-21) converted more than 80 percent of its opportunities.
SURVEY POSITION
• Babson, which suffered a two-goal loss to MIT in last year’s NEWMAC semifinals, received two first-place votes and was picked to finish second in the league’s preseason coaches’ meeting following the February engineers’ poll.
• Coast Guard, which finished second a season ago, was picked to enter fourth.
DIVIDED HOUSE
• Graduate of Babson Michael Laforte will face his father, Coast Guard head coach Ray LaForte, for the first time with the Beavers and the third time in his career on Saturday.
• The Waterford, Conn., native had a goal and three assists for four points to help Grove City beat the Bears 16-15 in 2OT in 2020 and finished with four assists as Coast Guard avenged the loss with a win with 21-11 when the teams met last season in Maryland.
NUMBERS YOU NEED TO KNOW
• The Beavers are 3-0 this season and have won 17 straight games since the start of 2020 when they led in the fourth quarter.
• Babson is 3-0 this season when scoring at least 10 goals and has scored 17 goals in back-to-back games for the first time since 2021.
• The Green and White have won seven straight and are 11-3 since the start of last season when they allowed 11 goals or fewer.
• The Beavers have outscored their first four opponents 17-8 in the second quarter this spring.
NEXT
• Babson hosts Clark next Saturday at 12 p.m