A headshot of Telluride High School graduate Jay Ellison, who is now playing for Babson College. For the 2025 season, Ellison earned some playing time as a true freshman and helped the Beavers (NCAA Div. III) post a 14-6 overall record. (Photo courtesy of Babson College Athletics)
Having helped elevate Telluride High School Lacrosse to a historic height, when Jay Ellison moved on to college after the Miners’ epic 2024 season, he didn’t take a step down. Selecting a school packed with tradition in the sport, he not only suited up for his new crew but earned game time as well — despite being a true freshman in the ’24-25 academic year.
Ellison elected to attend Babson College, coming off its greatest campaign in program history. In spring 2024, the Beavers posted a 7-0 record in regular-season New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference play, then hosted and won the NEWMAC Tournament by defeating Wheaton (Mass.) College — BC’s school-record 14th win, surpassing the 13 achieved in 2001 and 2023 — and Springfield (Mass.) College, better known to most as the “Birthplace of Basketball.”
Forced to leave Babson Park, Mass., and friendly MacDowell Field to begin NCAA Division III Tournament action, BC traveled to Rochester, N.Y., and rallied past Granville, Ohio-based Denison University in the second round, but then suffered a 23-16 loss in the Sweet 16 to top-three ranked Rochester Institute of Technology — leaving the Beavers standing 16-4 overall.
And with expectations for 2025 sky-high despite the loss of several stars, including NEWMAC Player-of-the-Year and U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) Honorable Mention All-America pick Jared Rainville (who broke BC’s single-season records in goals with 78, and total points with 103; the previous bests of 71 and 102 had been set in 1995), Babson again shone brightly.
After tying for second place in conference during the regular season, the Beavers then won 12-10 at aforementioned Springfield on Saturday, May 3, to earn a third straight NEWMAC Tournament title. Babson then hosted Western Connecticut State University in the first round of the NCAA Div. III Tournament, and after bolting into halftime at MacDowell Field in complete control, 14-1, BC ended up winning 24-4 — brutally halting WestConn’s 10-game winning streak in the teams’ first-ever meeting and Babson’s first-ever NCAA Tournament game at MacDowell.
That bumped the Green & White into the second round, but unfortunately, the Beavers’ teeth weren’t sharp enough on the road at fifth-ranked Wesleyan. Playing Saturday, May 10, in Middletown, Conn., Babson didn’t begin badly and trailed the home team 4-2 after the first 15 minutes. And at halftime the score was still close, with the Cardinals hanging on to a 6-3 advantage.
The third quarter, however, made most of the difference. Wesleyan scored six goals to Babson’s two and thus began the fourth and final frame at Citrin Field up 12-5 — putting Wesleyan on course to a 16-7 win, that program’s eighth straight win, and 11th in 12 total tries against Babson in a rivalry dating back to 1994.
Still, three of head coach Rocky Batty’s Beavers’ six losses — against 14 victories—in 2025 were to top-10 teams (at No. 1 Tufts, the ’24 National Champion; at No. 9 Bowdoin; Wesleyan), and BC is 3-4 in NCAA Tournament games in the past four years, after making just one appearance (in 1979, when Chris Grant recorded a still-standing team record of 47 assists) during the program’s first five decades of existence.
And Ellison? All told, the 6’2”, 185-pounder saw action in three games, including a 16-10 home win over conference opponent Wheaton — with 5A Highlands Ranch ThunderRidge alumnus Evan Borchert, a sophomore reserve goalie, on the Lyons’ roster — and a 15-3 road win six days later in Boston at Emerson College, but did not register any official statistics.
He debuted Saturday, March 15, in Babson’s Ides-of-March NEWMAC opener at Springfield, though the Pride prevailed 9-6 at Stagg Field (named for football pioneer Amos Alonzo Stagg) and dropped the Beavers to 4-2 overall at the time.
After capturing three conference tournament championships, two regular season titles and top-four finishes in six of eight sports, Babson College claimed its third consecutive NEWMAC Men’s Presidents Cup on Thursday, June 12.
Five BC players were named First Team All-Conference — including senior Brendan Maher (who spent his 2021 freshman season at NCAA Div. I UMass-Amherst, where he earned Colonial Athletic Association Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll, before transferring) and graduate student Tripp Clark (previously of St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y., and a USILA First Team Div. III All-America pick in ’24), both linchpin defenders — and three more earned Second Team.
