SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The #12 Union College men's lacrosse team has earned an at-large berth into the 2019 NCAA Div. III Championship and will host SUNY Cortland in the second round on Wednesday, May 8 at Frank Bailey Field at Bertagna-Class of 1985 Stadium.
GAME DETAILS: 5:00 p.m. – Frank Bailey Field at Bertagna-Class of 1985 Stadium. Ticket prices are $8 for adults, $4 for students with ID and seniors. The first 300 Union students (with College ID) will be admitted FREE courtesy of the Student Forum and Athletics!
LIVE COVERAGE: Union will provide a free live video stream of the game at
http://www.unionathletics.com/mlaxvideo and live stats will also be available at
http://www.unionathletics.com/sidearmstats/mlax. Fans can also follow all the action via social media on
Twitter and
Instagram!
HOW THEY GOT HERE: Union (13-3) earns an at-large bid after falling to top-seeded and #1 Rochester Institute of Technology in the Liberty League championship game by a score of 14-6. Cortland (14-4) earned an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament by defeating SUNY Geneseo, 13-9, in the SUNYAC championship game.
WHAT'S NEXT: The winner of Wednesday's game will face either RIT or the winner of a first-round game between John Carroll University and Hope College on Saturday, May 11. The quarterfinals will be played on Wednesday, May 15, followed by the semifinals on May 19 and the national championship game at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on May 26. The full bracket can be viewed
here.
NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY: Union is making its fifth NCAA Tournament appearance and first since the 2015 season. Union is 6-4 all-time in the NCAAs, including a perfect 5-0 record at Frank Bailey Field, and have won at least one game in all four previous appearances. The Dutchmen have reached the quarterfinals twice, winning first and second games in 2012 and 2014.
UNION VS. CORTLAND: Union is 1-6 in its last seven meetings with Cortland, the last a 10-7 loss in Cortland on April 6, 2016. The Dutchmen and Red Dragons have met once previously in NCAA Tournament play, with Cortland earning a 9-4 win in the quarterfinals in 2012.
FAMILIAR FOE: Head coach
Paul Wehrum is a 1972 graduate of SUNY Cortland and a member of the school's Hall of Fame. Wehrum was a three-time All-American on the lacrosse field for the Red Dragons and served as an assistant coach on the school's 1973 USILA national championship team. His 10 goals scored against Brockport in 1970 still stands as a school single-game record.
TOP OF THE LYNE: Junior
Kerry Lyne had a career-high 35 goals this season and is two away from reaching the 100-goal plateau for his career in his first 45 games as a Dutchman. The attacker scored a team-leading five goals in the conference semifinal win over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on May 1.
SOPHOMORE SUCCESS: Second-year players
Hayden Frey and
Keaton McCann have both reached the 30-goal plateau as well for Union this year, marking the first time in school history that three players have scored 30 or more goals in a season. McCann is the only Dutchman to score at least once in every game this season, while both players have a team-best 10 multi-goal games to their credit so far in 2019.
DEFENSIVE MINDED: The Dutchmen enter the week 21st in Division III by allowing only 8.06 goals per game. Senior
Jack Santilli ranks 14th in the country with a 7.44 goals against average and also is 18th with a .609 save percentage as well. Junior
Edward Winters leads a stout defensive unit with a 43 ground balls and a team-best 30 caused turnovers.
X MARKS THE SPOT: Senior
Alex Newhouse has been a big part of the Dutchman offense this season, ranking 48th in D-III by winning nearly 62 percent of his faceoffs and grabbing a team-best 78 ground balls. The senior has won at least 50 percent of his draws in nine of the last 11 games, including a 21-of-25 effort against Ithaca and a part of 15-of-19 games against RPI.
ABOUT THE RED DRAGONS: Cortland boasts the 26th-ranked scoring offense in Division III by averaging over 15 goals per game, led by Terrance Haggerty, who ranks 31st individually by scoring 54 goals in 16 games this season. Faceoff man Brian Williams is 13th in the country in ground balls (178) and has a .642 success rate at the X, 34th-best in D-III. In goal, Marc Esposito (8-0, .634 save percentage) and Jon Vargas (6-2, .567 save percentage) have split most of the time for the Red Dragons this season.
