GARDEN CITY, N.Y. – The Pace University men's lacrosse team, ranked No. 5 in the nation, enters the 2017 NCAA Division II Men's Lacrosse Championship Tournament as the No. 4-seed in the North Region, and is set to visit top-seed and Northeast-10 Conference rival Adelphi University on Saturday, May 13, at 7 p.m. in Garden City, N.Y. This will be the third matchup between the Setters and Panthers, with each team having a win against the other this year.
TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
INTERACTIVE BRACKET
GAME INFORMATION
WHO: #4 Pace at #1 Adelphi
WHAT: 2017 NCAA Division II Men's Lacrosse Championship Tournament First Round
WHERE: Motamed Field
WHEN: Saturday, May 13 – 7 p.m.
WHY: A chance at the National Championship!
TICKETS
Adults - $8
Senior Citizens/Children (2-12) - $5
Students with ID - $3
Children under 2 - FREE
HOW TO WATCH
Live Stats:
http://www.sidearmstats.com/adelphi/mlax
Live Video:
http://aupanthers.tv/
FINAL NATIONAL RANKINGS
USILA:
Pace - #5
Adelphi - #3
US Lacrosse Magazine:
Pace - #6
Adelphi - #3
SEASON SERIES TIED AT 1-1
The Setters and Panthers first met back on April 11 at Motamed Field. Adelphi entered on an eight-game winning streak, including victories over nationally-ranked opponents LIU Post, Saint Anselm, Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) and Merrimack College. Pace had recently fallen to then-top-ranked Le Moyne College, but was coming into the game having defeated then-No. 15 SNHU.
Adelphi led the game, 5-2, with 8:03 left in the second quarter. Junior
Joshua Kreitler (Shelton, CT/Shelton) scored the final goal of the half to send the game into the break with a 5-3 score. Pace scored the first three goals to open the second half, taking a 6-5 lead with 12:53 left in regulation. Adelphi tied it up just 52 seconds later, but Pace went on to score the final four goals of the game and knock off the Panthers, 10-6.
Full Game Recap:
Dominant Second Half Pushes No. 8 Pace Men's Lacrosse Past No. 3 Adelphi
The Setters and Panthers matched up once again in the NE10 Championship Semifinals at Adelphi. The Panthers took a big lead in the first half and never looked back, picking up an 11-5 win to advance to the NE10 Championship Finals.
Full Game Recap:
No. 4 Pace Men's Lacrosse Falls to No. 1 Adelphi in NE10 Semifinals
A DEEPER LOOK AT THE SETTERS
Pace heads into Saturday's First Round with a 12-3 overall record. Pace was eliminated from the NE10 Conference Championships by Adelphi in the semifinal round of the tournament. The Setters advanced to the semifinals after a thrilling overtime 12-11 victory against Saint Anselm College in the NE10 First Round.
As a team, the Setters find themselves near the top of the national rankings in numerous statistical categories. They rank 13th in scoring offense with an average of 12.60 goals scored per game, which also puts them second in the NE10. They are third in the NCAA with 8.13 assists per game, ninth with 20.73 points per game, and 20th with 8.67 goals allowed per game. Pace is also ninth with 9.67 caused turnovers per contest and 13th with 32.87 ground balls per outing.
Many individual Setters also rank near the top of the NCAA and NE10 statistical rankings.
Liam Brennan (Huntington Station, NY/Walt Whitman) and
Bradley Paterson (Caldwell, NJ/Depaul Catholic) are No. 1 and 2 at the top of the league with 30 and 28 assists, respectively. Brennan is 10th in the nation with 2.00 assists per game, while Paterson is tied for 12th with 1.87. Brennan is No. 18 in the nation with 4.07 points per game, and stands second in the NE10 with a total of 61 points. Paterson sits in fourth with 55 points. Junior
Joshua Kreitler (Shelton, CT/Shelton) is fourth in the league with a team-high 36 goals. Brennan is tied for eighth in the NE10 with 31 goals.
While they are highly impressive on offense, the Setters are no slouches defensively. Senior
Brandon Donnellan (Chester, NY/Warwick Valley) leads the NE10 with 29 caused turnovers, and tied for 13th in all of Division II with 1.93 caused turnovers per game. Junior goalkeeper
Robert Beshlian (Wantagh, NY/Wantagh) is fourth in the NE10 with a .580 save percentage, which also places him 11th in the nation. He is also fourth in the conference with an 8.67 goals-against average, good for 18th in all of Division II.
SCOUTING THE PANTHERS
After losing to Pace, the Panthers won five straight games, having their streak end in the NE10 Conference Championship finals, in which they fell to No. 2-seed Le Moyne College, 7-2. The Panthers enter Saturday's NCAA First Round game with a 14-3 record, and as the No. 3-ranked team in the nation.
Adelphi has the 36th-ranked attack in Division II with 10.65 goals per game, but the fourth-best scoring defense in the country, giving up just 7.12 goals per contest. The Panthers rank fifth in the nation with a .642 faceoff winning percentage.
Ian Kirby leads the Panthers with 49 points on 29 goals and 20 assists. Gordon Purdie Jr. is second with 42 points on 19 goals and a team-high 23 assists, while Nicolas Racalbuto leads the team with 32 goals and has 37 points. Mark Andrejack is second in the NE10 with 107 ground balls and a faceoff winning percentage of .650, which also places him eighth in the country. Goalkeeper Brendan McDougal is second in the NE10 with a 7.12 goals-against average, and first with a .607 save percentage. His goals-against average ranks fourth in Division II, while his save percentage is second.
CHAMPIONSHIP INFORMATION
The first round sites and team matchups are as follows:
North Region:
(1) *Adelphi (14-3) vs. (4) Pace (12-3)
(2) *Le Moyne (14-2) vs. (3) Merrimack (13-3)
South Region:
(1) *Limestone (18-1) vs. (4) Wingate (13-3)
(2) *Lenoir-Rhyne (12-2) vs. (3) Tampa (14-4)
Note: *Denotes host institution.
The four remaining teams will play in the semifinals on Sunday, May 21. This year's finalists will advance to Foxborough, Mass. for the championship game at Gillette Stadium, which will be played at 2 p.m. Eastern time, Sunday, May 28, and shown via web stream on NCAA.com. That game will be followed by the Division III championship at 5 p.m. Eastern time, which can also be seen on NCAA.com. The Division I semifinals and championship are Saturday, May 27 and Monday, May 29 at the same site.
For more information about the NCAA Division II Men's Lacrosse Championship, go to
www.NCAA.com/lacrosse.
For all information regarding Pace University men's lacrosse, log on to
www.PaceUAthletics.com, follow Pace Athletics on Facebook (
T-Bone, Official Mascot of Pace University Athletics), and follow the men's lacrosse team on Twitter (
@PaceLacrosse) and on Instagram (
@PaceUnivLax).
