Men's Lacrosse | 5/8/2016 10:36:00 PM
Montclair, NJ – The Montclair State men's lacrosse team is headed to New Hampshire and will face Keene State in the first round of the 2016 NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship on Wednesday. That came during the online announcement of the field of 32 teams on Sunday evening on NCAA.com.
The Red Hawks (12-6) will meet the Owls in one of 16 first-round games on Wednesday, May 11 in Keene, NH at 6:00 pm. MSU was one 23 teams to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament after capturing the Skyline Conference title on Saturday. Keene State (14-3) also earned its way via the automatic bid after rolling through the Little East Conference Tournament.
The winner of the game advances to the second round on Saturday, May 14 against the winner of Ithaca (18-1) and Morrisville State (13-2).
Montclair State is making its eighth consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Red Hawks downed Stockton University 13-6 at Sprague Field on Saturday to punch its ticket. Senior
BRETT MANGAN was named the Most Valuable Player after scoring seven goals in the tournament, including four along with three assists in the championship contest.
MSU, which has won eight straight games, has taken on three other NCAA Tournament teams this season – Salisbury (18-1), RIT (17-1) and Denison (16-1).
This will be the first meeting between the teams.
The Red Hawks feature a balanced attack led by Mangan, who became the sixth player in program history to record 200 career points on Saturday. The First-Team All-Skyline pick leads the team in scoring with 41 goals, 33 assists and 74 points. Skyline Offensive Player of the Year
ZACH SCHRECK has connected 37 times with 56 points tied with junior
DON FINN who has an even 28 goals and 28 assists.
BRADY WULSTER is next with 35 goals while senior
CONNOR CUNNINGHAM has tallied 21 times.
Faceoff specialist
BLASE MANTINEO has been one of the best at the "X" this season with a .707 percentage (268-379) along with 116 ground balls. The Red Hawk defensive unit, which has allowed just 8.77 goals per game, is led by Skyline Defensive Player of the Year
RYAN YOUNG, who has forced 36 turnovers and 78 ground balls. Goalkeeper
LUCAS JONES has made 134 saves and an 8.86 goals against average.
Like MSU, the Owls enter on a long winning streak – 11 in a row after scoring 45 goals in two games during the Little East Conference Tournament. Keene State defeated UMass-Dartmouth in the semifinals 23-6 before cruising past Eastern Connecticut 22-8 for its third straight conference crown. Tyler Riley was named the MVP of the tournament taylling seven goals in the championship game.
The Owls, ranked 19
th in the latest USILA Division III Poll, are averaging 17.3 goals per game this season finding the back of the net 294 times in 17 contests. Eight players have scored 10 or more, including five with 30 or more. Tyler McKelvie leads the group with 55 goals and 75 points while Reilly has registered 47 (62 points). Bryan Rotatori is next with 40 followed by Hunter Arnold (35 goals) and Rob Hart (34 goals).
James Dowd had captured 180 of 357 faceoff attempts for the Owls in addition to scooping up 75 ground balls. Thomas Jenoski leads the team with 22 caused turnovers with Mike Wiedenfeld and Timothy Hanlon posting 16 and 15 respectively. Goalkeeper Mat Howe has been solid with 190 saves, an 11.34 goals against average and .554 save percentage.
