STANDISH, Maine – GNAC Champion Saint Joseph's College (15-1-5, 9-0-1 GNAC) is will face off against Babson College (11-5-3, 6-1-0 NEWMAC) in the opening round of the NCAA DIII Men's Soccer Tournament at 10:50 AM Saturday at Hartwell-Rogers Field on the Babson campus.

HOW THEY GOT HERE

Saint Joseph's earned an automatic berth into the NCAA DIII Tournament after tipping Norwich University, 4-2 in PK's, after 110 minutes of regulation and overtime play failed to produce a winner – or a goal – in the GNAC Championship last Saturday.

Babson earned one of 19 at-large berths divvyed out by the NCAA DIII Men's Soccer Selection Committee after falling to Wheaton College, 2-1, in NEWMAC Tournament semifinal action on November 5th.

The winner of the Saint Joseph's / Babson match will face the victor of the Brandeis University / Western New England University contest – which begins at 1:30 PM Saturday – in a second-round matchup at 1:10 PM at Hartwell-Rogers Field on Sunday.

WHAT WE KNOW

Saint Joseph's:

• Saint Joseph's – seeking its first NCAA Tournament victory - is making its third national tournament appearance and first since 2011 when the Monks suffered a 1-0 first-round setback at the hands of Trinity College
• The Monks have been one of the best defensive teams in the nation this fall with a 0.32 goals against average - the second-lowest mark in the country -and have outscored opponents by a 40-7 margin over 21 matches this year
• Saint Joseph's also ranks fourth nationally in shutout percentage (71%), third in save percentage (.883), 11th in shots per game (21.29), 20th in shots on goal per game (9.71), and 21st in winning percentage (.833)
• The Monks are currently riding a program record 19-game unbeaten streak – the third-longest in NCAA DIII Men's Soccer - with the team's only blemish thus far being a 2-0 setback at the hands of University of New England on September 4th
• Along with the unbeaten streak, Saint Joseph's has established new team records for winning streak (10), shutouts (15), consecutive shutouts (8), and winning percentage

Babson:

• Incredibly, Babson is making its 27th NCAA Tournament appearance this weekend and will serve as a first and second round host for the fifth time since 2008
• The Beavers have won three national championships (1975, 1979, 1980) but are seeking their first NCAA Tournament victory since 2011, when they advanced to the third round with wins over Lesley and Trinity
• Babson ranks 23rd in NCAA DIII Men's Soccer in save percentage (.840) and 30th in goals against average (0.74) and
• The Beavers feature the 12th-toughest schedule in the nation with a .625 opponents' winning percentage

PLAYERS TO WATCH:

Saint Joseph's:

• Sophomore forward Brett Mattos (Mahopac, N.Y.), a First Team All-GNAC selection, leads the SJC offensive attack with six goals and six assists for 18 total points; five of his six strikes have been of the game-winning variety
• Junior Austin Bell (Gorham, Maine), who netted three goals in the Monks' quarterfinal win over Mount Ida, has six goals and 12 total points this fall
• With a balanced attack – 14 different players have scored at least one goal – the Monks have six others with three or more goals on the season: freshman Cody Elliott (Gorham, Maine), sophomore Kartikeya Swarup (Delhi, India), sophomore Dalton Gaumer (Corona, Calif.), junior Trevor Lopes (Cumberland, R.I.), senior Nicholas Borowski (Webster, Mass.), and freshman Noah Robinson (Wappingers Falls, N.Y.)
• Freshman midfielder JoJo Strobino (Clifton, N.J.) leads the team with seven assists

Babson:

• Senior forward Adam Villari (Lansdale, Pa.), a First Team All-NEWMAC selection, leads the team with 18 points (7G, 4A) and leads the Beavers with five game-winning goals
• Sophomore midfielder Noah Parker (Hampden, Maine) has tallied three goals and three assists for nine total points
• First-year Youcef Ziad (Holbrook, Mass.) has scored four goals with nine total points and junior Ian Fromhein (Osterville, Mass.) has netted three goals with seven points on the season
• The Beavers feature a pair of All-NEWMAC defenders in senior Kofi Abankroh (Worcester, Mass.) and sophomore Jackson Greenspan (Meriden, N.H.)

KEEPER COMPARISON:

Saint Joseph's: Sophomore Blake Mullen (Manchester, Conn.) is in the midst of one of the finest seasons ever recorded by a Saint Joseph's goalkeeper, as the 2016 GNAC Goalkeeper of the Year ranks second nationally in both goals against average (0.24), and save percentage (.906) and seventh in minutes (1838). He has set a number of SJC single-season records this fall, including wins (15) and shutouts (13).

Babson: Junior goalkeeper James Takami (Kenmore, Wash.) has a 0.76 goals against average and a .833 save percentage to go along with seven clean sheets in 19 starts and garnered First Team All-NEWMAC honors for his efforts.

ATTITUDE REFLECTS LEADERSHIP:

Saint Joseph's Head Coach Adrian Dubois, now in his third season at the helm, is 31-23-6 (.574) overall on the college sideline. The Monks have shown dramatic improvement since his first year (2014), when an injury-maligned club went 5-15 overall (3-6 GNAC), as St. Joe's went 11-7-1 with a 6-3 mark in GNAC play in 2015 en route to earning the #3 seed in the GNAC tourney before emerging as one of the teams to watch in the New England Region this fall. Dubois played collegiately at University of New Hampshire, where he was a four-year starting midfielder.

Babson Head Coach Jon Anderson, in his 31st campaign, has guided his teams to 27 winning seasons, 21 postseason appearances, and owns an impressive 381-171-67 (.690) career record. Anderson's teams have made 16 NCAA Tournament appearances, including a trip to the Final Four in 1991, and back-to-back trips to the third round of the NCAA Tournament in 2010 and 2011. In addition, Babson has won 12 conference titles and posted a 40-game conference unbeaten streak from 2008 to 2013. Without a doubt one of the most respected coaches in New England and the nation, Anderson has been honored as league coach of the year on nine occasions and has also been selected as the NSCAA New England Coach of the Year three times.

LAST TIME WE MET:

Interestingly, the last time these teams faced off - August 29th, 2014 – was the first game as a collegiate skipper for Head Coach Adrian Dubois. The Beavers bested the Monks, 3-1, that day, with one of Babson's strikes being an SJC own goal.

Three current Saint Joseph's players saw time against Babson, with seniors Sean Baker (Medway, Mass.) and Nicholas Borowski (Webster, Mass.) and junior Austin Bell all starting in the loss. Borowski scored the Monks' lone goal with a header off a corner kick in the 82nd minute.

Several Babson players faced the Monks, including junior Justin Kaplan (Medway, Mass.), who netted the Beavers' first goal – in the 16th minute, as well as 2016 team captains Kofi Abankroh and Caleb Long (Kingston, Mass.). 

#GOMONKS 

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Saint Joseph's College is Maine's only Catholic liberal arts college, providing a supportive, personalized and career-focused education for more than 100 years. From its 474-acre campus on the shores of Sebago Lake, the College offers more than 40 undergraduate programs to a population of approximately 1,000 students. Saint Joseph's College Online provides certificates, undergraduate and advanced degrees for working adults through an online learning program. For more, visit www.sjcme.edu.