Athletics’ Sweet Season of Success
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All-Americans, league titles, and a groundbreaking national championship. From the courts to the track to the fields, it was a historic spring of accomplishments, accolades, and firsts for Babson’s spring sports teams.
BABSON MAGAZINE: Read the complete Summer 2024 issue.
Here’s a look at the highlights:
Women’s Tennis
Women’s tennis players Olivia Soffer ’25 and Matia Cristiani ’26 became the first female national champions in Babson history, as the duo captured the NCAA Division III doubles title in late May at the Dwight Davis Memorial Tennis Center in St. Louis.
It is the seventh national title in school history, as the tandem joins men’s tennis player David Weisman ’98 and teams from men’s soccer (1975, 1979, and 1980), men’s ice hockey (1984), and men’s basketball (2017) as Babson’s national champions.
Seeded fourth in the tournament, Soffer and Cristiani outlasted the top seed from Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 6-1, 6-7 (1-7), 6-4 in the championship match. The duo had redemption on their minds, as they were making their second consecutive appearance in the doubles national championship match. “It gave us more willingness to win,” Cristiani says. “I think we worked harder this year.”
Going back to last year’s title match, Soffer and Cristiani have reached the doubles final in four straight major tournaments. They claimed the program’s first title at the ITA New England Championships in September and dropped the ITA Cup title match in October. Soffer and Cristiani finished the season with an incredible doubles record of 32-2, the best in program history.
Read more about the historic national championship.
Baseball
After facing elimination from the NEWMAC tournament, the baseball team stormed back to win three straight games en route to capturing its first league championship since 2018. On Selection Sunday, Babson learned it would host the first NCAA regional tournament in its history. The Beavers finished with a 30-13 record, including a stellar 21-3 mark at Govoni Field. Babson’s 30 wins were the third most in program history.
Men’s Track & Field
Track & field sent a pair of male athletes to the NCAA championships for the inaugural time, with each earning All-America honors at Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium in South Carolina. Eric Bottern ’24 (above left), who was named as one of the Dr. Norm Govoni Scholar-Athletes of the Year at the Athletics Department’s annual senior banquet, finished eighth in the country in the shot put. He was making his second consecutive appearance at nationals after placing 12th last spring. Selected as Babson’s Male Athlete of the Year, Anthony Rodriguez ’24 (above right) placed 12th nationally in the 10,000-meter run. Rodriguez was named NEWMAC Track Athlete of the Year for the second straight spring, and Bottern was voted NEWMAC Field Co-Athlete of the Year.
Men’s and Women’s Lacrosse
For the first time in school history, both the nationally ranked men’s and women’s lacrosse teams advanced to the NCAA tournament round of 16 in the same season. Each squad earned an opening-round bye before emerging victorious in the next round, as the men defeated Denison and the women knocked off Stevens. The women posted an overall mark of 17-3, while the men finished with a 16-4 record, both single-season school records for wins. The men went unbeaten in league play for the second year in a row while capturing its second straight NEWMAC regular-season and tournament crowns. The women were also perfect in conference play before claiming their second consecutive league tournament title.
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