BABSON PARK, Mass.— Coming off a fifth consecutive New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament championship and a second NCAA Division III Tournament semifinal appearance in three years, Babson College field hockey 20th-year head coach Julie Ryan announced her program’s 2026 schedule on Tuesday.
The 10-time defending NEWMAC regular season champs, Babson will play a 19-game slate that includes nine conference matchups and seven contests against teams that reached the 2025 NCAA Tournament, including four of the first five games.
The Green and White, which went unbeaten (9-0) in league play a year ago for the 10th consecutive season and finished 22-2 overall, opens the 2026 campaign with back-to-back meetings against teams from last year’s NCAA Tournament. The opener will be at defending Conference of New England (CNE) champion Endicott in Beverly, Mass., on September 1, followed by the home opener at MacDowell Field on September 5 against Christopher Newport, which joined Babson at the 2025 NCAA Tournament semifinals last November.
After another home game against Saint Joseph’s (Maine) on September 8, the Beavers will play consecutive road contests against teams that advanced to the 2025 NCAA Tournament. First up will be Williams on September 10 in Williamstown, Mass., against an Ephs squad that won an NCAA first-round match-up last fall, followed by Middlebury on September 13 in Vermont against a Panther program that won seven consecutive NCAA titles from 2017-24 before being upset by Johns Hopkins in last year’s regional finals.
The Beavers return to MacDowell Field for three straight home games, beginning with the University of New England on September 15 and followed by the first two NEWMAC encounters against Wellesley on September 19 and Mount Holyoke on September 26. Then it’s back to another challenge against defending NCAA champion Tufts on September 30 in Medford to wrap up the opening month of the season.
October begins with three consecutive NEWMAC contests, starting on October 3 at WPI, which was the conference runner-up last year and earned an NCAA Tournament at-large berth. The Beavers travel to MIT on October 6 and play at home against Smith on October 10 before taking on a pair of New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) foes, traveling to 2025 NCAA Tournament participant Bowdoin on October 13 and on to Trinity on October 15.
Three more NEWMAC opponents dot the schedule in the middle of the month as Babson visits Clark on October 17 and Salve Regina on October 24, sandwiched around a home encounter against Springfield on October 20. The final non-conference game is set for October 25 at MacDowell Field against Ithaca, and the regular season finale is a conference tilt on October 31 at Wheaton in Norton, Mass.
The six-team NEWMAC Tournament will get underway with quarterfinal contests on November 3. The top two seeds will host semifinal matches on November 5 and the highest remaining seed will host the tournament final on November 7. The NEWMAC champion receives an automatic berth in the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament.
