Beavers Post First NCAA Tourney Win in Program History, Will Face No. 3/3 RIT on Sunday

ROCHESTER, N.Y.—Junior Jacob Tauss (San Marcos, Calif.) fired in four goals and senior Chi Chi Price (Hingham, Mass.) scored three times as Babson College defeated No. 16/17 Williams College, 16-10, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday afternoon at RIT's Tiger Stadium.

With its fifth consecutive victory, Babson improved to 13-4 overall and avenged an 11-10 loss to Williams back on April 8. The Beavers advance to a third-round matchup on Sunday against No. 3/3 RIT while Williams completes its season at 10-8.

Senior Matt Stucchi (Rexford, N.Y.) and graduate student Will Spangenberg (Dover, Mass.) each contributed four points, Stucchi with two goals and two assists and Spangenberg with a goal and three helpers for the Beavers. Junior Connor Karsh (Glenview, Ill.) added two goals, juniors Topher Bower (Chicago, Ill.), Grey Sunderland (Bellevue, Wash.) and Christian Brofft (Pottstown, Pa.) chipped in with a goal and an assist each and first-year Bennett Smith (Lake Oswego, Ore.) collected two assists in the win.

Sunderland captured 17-of-30 face-offs and scooped up eight ground balls, senior Hayden Bean (Winchester, Mass.) and junior Dillon Quinn (Spring Lake, N.J.) caused two turnovers each, and Quinn grabbed a career-high seven ground balls. Senior goalie Will Parducci (Manhattan Beach, Calif) made 14 saves in the triumph.

Junior Nick Bates (Newtown Square, Pa.) scored three goals for the Ephs, classmate Calvin Caputo (Pennington, N.J.) contributed two goals and two assists and fellow junior Pearse Glavin (Newtown Square, Pa.) scored twice in the loss. First-year Ryan Johnson (Somerset, N.J.) added a goal and an assist, and junior Tucker Catlin (Boulder, Colo.) and sophomore Jesse Shapiro (Glencoe, Ill.) scored once each for the offense. Junior Patrick Gaul (Potomac, Md.) caused a game-high five turnovers, senior Ian Di Pietro (New York, N.Y.) and junior Bjorn Davidson (Alexandria, Va.) scooped up six ground balls each, and senior Matthew Freitas (Weymouth, Mass.) made 11 saves in the setback.

Babson pulled ahead 4-1 in the first quarter as Tauss scored twice and Spangenberg and Price put in one each. Williams answered with the next three goals, including two from Bates and goal and an assist from Johnson, to tie the game at 4-4 early in the second frame. After Brofft and Glavin traded goals, Babson rattled off four in a row, including two from Stucchi and one each from Price and Bower, to take the lead for good. Glavin got one back with 44 seconds left in the half to pull the Ephs to within 9-6 at the break.

Karsh and Caputo scored goals just seven seconds apart early in the third quarter, but the Babson defense shut down the Ephs for the next 16 minutes while Karsh, Price and Tauss all found the back of the net as the Beavers pulled away to a 13-7 fourth-quarter lead. Williams went on a 3-1 run in a three-minute span to cut the margin to 14-10 with six minutes to go, but that was it for the Ephs and Sunderland and graduate student Ryan Kenney (Hingham, Mass.) added insurance goals as the Green and White closed out the win.

 The Beavers had a narrow 44-43 advantage in shots and a 41-34 margin in ground balls. Babson was successful on 19-of-25 clear attempts while Williams converted 20-of-23. With only three penalties whistled in the game, Babson was 0-for-1 and Williams 0-for-2 on man-up situations.

GAME NOTES
• Babson won for the first time in three games all-time against Williams in a series that started in 2022.
• The Beavers posted their first NCAA Tournament win after previous first round losses to Tufts in 2021 (17-9) and UMBC (22-7) in 1979.
• The Green and White are 2-3 this season against teams from the NESCAC, with the three losses to Bowdoin, Williams and Middlebury coming by a total of five goals.
• After leading 9-6 at halftime, Babson is 12-1 this spring when taking a lead into the second half.
• The Beavers are also 12-1 when scoring 15 or more goals this spring.