SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The third-seeded and #9/8 Union College men's lacrosse team will make the familiar trip to Rochester to battle with top-seeded and #2 Rochester Institute of Technology in the semifinal round of the Liberty League Tournament on Friday at 4 p.m. at the RIT Turf Field.
Union (12-4, 4-3 Liberty League) advanced to the semifinals with a 12-9 victory over fifth-seeded Clarkson University in Tuesday's opening round matchup. In addition to Union at RIT (16-1, 6-1 Liberty League), second-seeded and #3 St. Lawrence University hosts third-seeded and #5/4 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Friday's other semifinal.
POSTSEASON HISTORY: Union is making its 15th postseason appearance in the last 16 years and is 9-13 all-time in Liberty League Tournament play, reaching the championship game on seven occasions (2008, 2011-12, 2014-15, 2019, 2023) and capturing one conference tournament title in 2011.
UNION VS. THE TIGERS: Despite several close calls in recent years, Union has dropped the last 24 meetings with RIT and is 3-29 in 32 all-time meetings. The teams have met 12 times in the postseason since 2012: three times in the Liberty League semifinals, five times in the Liberty League championship game, and four times in the NCAA Tournament. The average margin of victory for RIT over the last eight meetings is just three goals, with five games decided by two goals or fewer and only one decided by more than four.
LAST MEETING: Union is back in Rochester for the second time in less than a week after facing off with RIT on Saturday in both teams' regular-season finale, a 16-12 victory for the Tigers. Seniors
Michael Shaw,
Zach Davis,
Jake Mabardy and
Peter Kip combined for 11 of the team's 12 goals, led by Shaw with a game-high five points (three goals, two assists) and a four-point effort from Davis. The visitors jumped out to a 5-3 lead after one quarter, but a 7-2 run put RIT up 10-7 in the third. Union got back within a goal on three occasions; however, the home team closed with a 4-1 run over the final 7:27 to secure the win.
GIVE ME LIBERTY: Union finished the regular season as the fourth-ranked team in the Liberty League and the ninth-ranked team in Division according to the latest USILA poll. Conference schools posted a combined 61-10 non-conference record this season, finishing with more wins and fewer losses than any other conference. Only two Liberty League schools (Clarkson, Ithaca) had more than one out-of-league loss in the regular season.
A TOUGH ROAD: Union's 2024 regular-season opponents had a combined winning percentage of .702 (158-67), the third-highest among Division III's 239 teams. No team in the country faced teams with fewer combined losses than the Garnet Chargers during the regular season.
UNION IN THE POLLS: Union has been ranked in every national poll this season, having been ranked as high as seventh in both the USILA and
Inside Lacrosse rankings. Union has been nationally ranked by the USILA in every week during the five-year tenure of head coach
Derek Witheford '11 and every week overall since April 12, 2019. Only three teams (RIT, Salisbury, and Tufts) have a longer current stretch of consecutive national rankings than Union.
THE X FACTOR: After a 20-of-25 effort against Clarkson on Tuesday,
Matthew Paolatto moved up to second in Division III by winning 72.1 percent (284 of 394) of his faceoffs so far this season, and also ranks eighth in the country by averaging 10.88 ground balls per game. Paolatto broke the school single-season faceoff wins record in Saturday's regular-season finale at RIT, surpassing the previous record of 261 set by Connor Hall '15 in 2015, and his 174 ground balls so far this season surpass his own school record of 166 set last season. Combined with junior
Luke McHugh (14 of 28) and sophomore
Luke Tranter (3 of 9), Union ranks second in the country in team faceoff percentage at 69.8 percent.
SENIOR CLASS: The 16 members of the senior class play a massive role in all aspects of the Union team this season. The offense has been heavily dominated by its seniors, with the Class of 2024 accounting for 78.5 percent of the team's goals (157 of 200) and 77.4 percent of points (251 of 324) so far this year. The team's top-five point-getters are all in their final season, led by
Peter Kip with a team-best 62 points (41 goals, 21 assists) and
Michael Shaw with 37 goals and 21 assists. In addition,
Matthew Paolatto has also taken 91.4 percent of the team's faceoffs and
Dan Donahue has played 96.4 percent of time in goal for the Garnet Chargers this year.
CENTURY MEN: Seniors
Peter Kip,
Zach Davis and
Jake Mabardy all have joined the list of Union's 31 career 100-point scorers this season. Kip is the team's active points leader with 90 goals and 45 assists for 135 points in 63 games and is 21st in school history in career points, two points from matching Brendan Kinnane '11 for a spot in the top-20. Davis enters the weekend having scored 73 goals with 37 assists for 110 points in 60 games to rank 28th all-time. Mabardy became the newest member of the 100-point club with his first goal against Clarkson on Tuesday and is 30th in school history with 63 goals and 39 assists for 102 points in 54 games.
UP IS UP AND DOWN IS DOWN: Union ranks 12th in Division III and second in the Liberty League in man-up offense, converting at a 47.8 percent success rate (22 of 46), led by seven man-up goals from senior
Michael Shaw. Conversely, the Garnet Chargers are last in the conference and 162nd in D-III in man-down defense, successfully killing off only 66.1 percent (37 of 56) of extra-man opportunities.
ABOUT THE TIGERS: RIT is searching for its 12th straight Liberty League championship, having taken the title in every season as a member of the Liberty League since 2012. The Tigers lead the conference and rank fifth in Division III by scoring 17.59 goals per game, helped by the nation's top man-up attack that converts at a 60.0 percent (36 of 60) clip. Clifford Gaston has scored 12 of his team-leading 56 goals with the extra attacker to rank fifth in D-III and he is tied for the conference lead in both goals and points (80). Jake Erickson leads the conference with 42 assists to go with 32 goals, and Luke Pilcher has chipped in 45 goals with 22 helpers as well. Mike Grace has grabbed 78 ground balls and caused 17 turnovers to pace the defensive unit in front of Alex Zborowski, who ranks top-20 in Division III in both save percentage (.617) and goals against average (8.64).
WHAT'S NEXT: The winner of today's game will advance to the Liberty League Tournament championship game on Sunday against the winner of St. Lawrence and Rensselaer.
