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UD men’s lacrosse in NCAA tournament 2:59 p.m., May 9, 2005--The University of Delaware men’s lacrosse team has been awarded a berth in the 16-team NCAA Division I championship tournament and will face the U.S. Naval Academy at noon, Saturday, May 14, in Annapolis. The 11-5 Fightin’ Blue Hens were named to the field Sunday night, ending a torturous 24 hours in which their tournament fate was uncertain because of a heart-breaking 9-8 loss to Towson University in the Colonial Athletic Association championship game played Saturday at Rullo Stadium. "It doesn't get any better than this," UD Head Coach Bob Shillinglaw, the 2005 CAA Coach of the Year, said. "We are excited because we get at least another week to coach this team. This will be a good match-up. We have followed Navy this season, and we know they have an outstanding team with some great weapons. We'll be ready to go. Our selection speaks of how highly our conference is regarded. This is great for our players, especially coming off such a tough loss Saturday night. This will be a terrific experience for them." Navy is 11-3, with victories over the University of Maryland and the University of North Carolina, and is the tournament’s fifth seed. The opening round game will be played at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium. Ticket prices have been set at $10 for adults and $5 for students and are available through the Naval Academy ticket office by calling 1-800-US4-NAVY. The other first round games match the top seed Johns Hopkins against Marist, Syracuse against Massachusetts, Albany against Virginia, Penn State against Maryland, Army against Georgetown, Duke against Fairfield and Towson against Cornell. The winner of the UD-Navy game will take on the winner of the Virginia-Albany game on Saturday, May 21, at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. The semifinals and championship game will be held May 28-30 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. UD will be making its third trip to the NCAA tournament and its first since the 1999 season. The Hens fell to eventual national champion Johns Hopkins 10-3 in the opening round in 1984 and defeated the University of Maryland Baltimore County 12-11 in overtime in the opening round in 1999 before falling to eventual national champion Virginia 17-10 in the quarterfinals. UD’s 11 wins are the most for the program since the 1999 squad, led by national player of the year John Grant, went 14-2 on the way to the NCAA quarterfinals. The highest-scoring team in the CAA at 10.8 goals per game, UD features a balanced lineup led by sophomore midfielder Jordan Hall, the CAA Player of the Year who has 28 goals and 17 assists. Also leading the Delaware attack are sophomore Cam Howard, senior Dave Powers and senior midfielder Joe Trentzsch. Senior goalkeeper Chris Collins, a three-year starter, leads the defense with a 7.47 goals against average and .585 save percentage. Sophomore Alex Smith leads the NCAA in face-off percentage, winning 71.9 percent of his 334 attempts. "All we asked for was an opportunity," Collins, who had 13 saves in the loss to Towson, said. "Now this is it. We've talked a lot about being 3-11 a couple of years ago (2002) and now this is the culmination of the hard work to get back from there. The last 24 hours was a long wait, but it was worth it. Navy will be a tough test, but we are excited." Navy, which lost to Syracuse 14-13 in last year's NCAA championship game, will be making its 22nd NCAA tournament appearance. Head Coach Richie Meade's squad, which earned an automatic NCAA bid as champion of the Patriot League, is led by Jon Birsner, who has 11 goals and 31 assists, Ben Horn, who has 23 goals and nine assists, Graham Gill, who has 17 goals and 14 assists, and Nick Mirabito, who has 23 goals and six assists. Chris Pieczonka has won 58.5 percent of his 195 face-offs, while goalkeeper Matt Russell leads the nation's top-ranked defense, one that allows just 6.36 goals per game. Russell leads the nation with a 6.42 goals against average in 14 starts. UD and Navy have met 16 times, with the Midshipmen holding a 14-2 advantage in the series. However, the Hens captured the last contest between the two, winning 11-8 in 1999 in Newark. The NCAA Division I semifinal and championship games, and the Division II and III championship games, all will be held at Lincoln Financial Field. The championship host is the University of Pennsylvania. This is the only NCAA team sport that holds the championships of all three divisions at a common site. For more information, check the Face-Off Philadelphia web site at [www.faceoffphiladelphia.com]. Editor's note: This article was updated at 7:55 p.m., May 9. To learn how to subscribe to UDaily, click here. |
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