With all eyes on the NCAA championships this weekend, the lone MLL game of the week takes place Thursday at 7:30 p.m. (on CBS Sports Network), as the 3-0 Hamilton Nationals take on the 0-3 Ohio Machine.

Make sure you check out the Week 3 Recap post for awesome Week 3 video highlights, and a ton of info on last week’s games!

Looking at the standings alone, these are obviously two teams in very different places. Hamilton is undefeated, while Ohio is still looking for their first win of 2013.

After splitting the season series last year, Hamilton and Ohio went in on a big offseason trade, with the Machine sending Roy Lang to Hamilton in exchange for Chad Wiedmaier and Scott Rodgers. While Machine head coach Ted Garber has been rotating his goalies this season, he’s confirmed that not only will Rodgers get the start against his former team, but also that he’s excited to face them. Good to know for Ohio.

If you enjoyed watching ECAC lacrosse this season, this is clearly the game for you. While Reid Acton and Tucker Durkin joined the team in time to play against the Hounds on Friday, the Nationals have also activated Josh Hawkins (fifth overall MLL draft pick and Acton’s Loyola teammate) for tonight’s game. If you saw Hawkins play in college, you know he’s capable of impacting a game in a number of different ways, and Hamilton coach Dave Huntley said he fits the style of two-way midfielder that the team is looking for. 

Speaking of ECAC rookies, the Machine activated Ohio State teammates Logan Schuss and Dominique Alexander (Peter Baum, you may have recently heard, is injured AND LXM-bound) in time for this game, along with Tewaaraton finalist Marcus Holman from UNC. It’s the debut of the new-look Ohio Machine, and no team has more invested in their incoming draft class.

While Garber acknowledges that rookies face a steep learning curve when joining the MLL, Holman and Schuss will be counted on to become key contributors in a currently struggling offense.

Here’s a little side bet (don’t gamble, kids) to get in on: Will anyone hit a two-pointer in this game? Hamilton has two on the season, and they finished with a total of five last year. While Kyle Hartzell had nine in 2012, Ohio has neither scored nor given up a single two-pointer so far in 2013. Does that change today?

Can Scott Rodgers and the Ohio Machine shut down an efficient and exciting Hamilton offense? Will the rookies on either side make an impact in their debut games? Most important, will Hamilton stay undefeated or will Ohio finally get that first win?

We’ll find out tonight.

RIT using black magic and trickery to get the win in overtime and punch their ticket to Championship Weekend. Mercyhurst grasping the win right from the clutches of Limestone to return to championship weekend for the 2nd time in 3 years, where they will face Le Moyne.

If Championship Weekend is half as fun as last weekend we all should buckle up for some great games! Let’s get a little deeper into this NCAA D2 Championship gem, which will be broadcast on NCAA.com on Sunday.

Mercyhurst has found its way back to the National Championship going a perfect 18-0.  This is the 3rd time in 7 years that Mercyhurst has made it to the National Championship, and 2nd time out of the last 3 attempts. After narrowly escaping both of their NCAA tournament games, Mercyhurst looks to be a team destined to win it all.

Le Moyne is no stranger to Championship Weekend and is the perfect match up for Mercyhurst.  Lemoyne has is 6-0 all time when playing Mercyhurst, including a last-second win in the 2007 National Championship, so someone’s winning streak is going to end.  Whenever these two teams get together to do battle, it is always a exciting game.

Le Moyne is 17-2 coming into the weekend with their only losses coming to Merrimack and Adelphi back in April, but Lemonye had its revenge as they beat Adelphi this past weekend to advance. While both of these two teams have earned the right to play for a National Championship, neither team has any first team All-Americans. That’s interesting!

Le Moyne is paced by attackman Tyler Prevost and Nate Frechette who have 58 and 55 points respectively.  Midfielder Andrew Chadderdon is 3rd on the team in scoring with 47 points and is following in his brothers footsteps who graduated from Le Moyne only a few years ago.  These three players will be a handful for the Mercyhurst defense who is surrendering 7.48 goals per game.  Lemoyne’s offense is ranked 7th in the NCAA scoring 13 GPP.

Conversly, the Mercyhurst offense is ranked 4th in the NCAA scoring 13.72 GPP who Lemoyne’s defense is ranked 1st overall giving up a minuscule 5.32 goals per game.  Mercyhurst’s offense is led by attackman Brian Scheetz who has 72 points on the year and is Mercyhurst’s All-Time leading point scorer.  The next top for scorers are Jack McAndrew, Brady Hesteline, Zac Reid, and James Chayka.  All four players have scored 40 or more points this season, including Reid, who had a career high 7 goals against Limestone last weekend.

The most important and most intriguing match up for this weekend will be face offs.  Mercyhurst struggled last weekend only winning 11 of 39 total face offs against Limestone.  Limestone was able to win face offs and that gave them the upper hand all game long and were able to control the pace of play.  Mercyhurst has won nearly 59% of their face offs all season long with Mitch McAvoy, who has 17 points on the year, taking the bulk of those draws.  Kyle Lindsay is a suitable backup as he has won .65% of his attempts.  Le Moyne has Kam Kumpas who has 23 points on the year along with a .61% win percentage.  He will be the key player in the face off battle.  Le Monye has a slight advantage in a numbers game as they have won .61% of their draws all season long, 2% more than Mercyhurst.

If you were to run down the stats line you would see that on paper these two teams are basically identical.  Both shooting percentages are right near each other at 31%  Mercyhurst has scored a total of 246 goals this season and Le Moyne has scored 247.  Mercyhurst is 42% on EMO and Lemoyne is 42% as well, although Le Moyne has 23 more opportunities.  One major difference in statistics is clearing percentage.  Le Moyne overall percentage is unusually low at .84% while Mercyhurst is .92%  Obviously no team is going to be near perfect, but I would expect Lemoyne to be in the 90′s this could be a vantage point that Chris Ryan and his Mercyhurst crew could take advantage of.

The biggest difference between these two teams will be goal-tending   It is widely argued that Le Moyne’s Jeff White is the best goalie in Division II.  White boasts a .62% save percentage this year compared to Mercyhurst’s Michael Grace .55%.  While .55% is a number to be proud of and win awards .62% is astronomical  and it is very rare to see goaltenders with percentages that high.  One can argue strength of opponents but you cannot deny that these goalies are the reasons that these teams are where they are right now.

In the past 10 years, Le Moyne has played in the National Championship game 6 times, and coach Dan Sheehan has won three of those.  Mercyhurst has been only twice, winning only once.  Le Moyne has not played Mercyhurst since 2009, and while there is no immediate familiarization with these two teams they are no stranger to each other, in any way.  Especially Sheehan and Ryan.

I can safely say that neither coach has no greater pleasure than defeating the other.

Over the past decade, the UofI men’s lacrosse team has worked diligently to establish itself as a competitive MCLA program, complete with great University relationships. And now, slowly but surely, the team is developing into a true showcase of homegrown talent. Fourteen of 20 players on the roster were born and raised in Idaho, including a few who had opportunities to play at the NCAA level, while the remaining 6 come mainly from places like Spokane (WA) or Bend (OR). There is just one East Coaster on the squad.

Idaho finished the 2013 season with a 4-10 record, ranked 4th in the northern division of the PNCLL, and over 50% of the players were underclassmen. Had it not been for a midseason coaching change and a few injuries, we may have even seen the Vandals make the conference playoffs. If recruiting videos like this drive more talented local (and not so local) players to commit the program, the PNCLL could have a new champion in its midst.

The 2013 University of Idaho Men’s Lacrosse Team

For more MCLA news and opinion, visit MCLA Fan and join the discussion in our brand new LAS Community Forum.

Con Bro Chill has launched a fundraising campaign to help them record new music for a FREE EP and produce their next ridiculous music video. Watch the video below for more information, then be sure to check out their Kickstarter page if you’re interested in pledging. The “Supertron Mega Boom” pledge is our personal favorite!

Are you a fan of Con Bro Chill’s music? Let us know by casting your vote below, or head to the brand new LAS Community Forum to sound off and share your two cents.

Below are a couple of photos courtesy of Patrick Smith, Denver Broncos Exec. Dir. of Media Relations:

Broncos WR @weswelker speaks to University of Denver lacrosse team in advance of their Final Four appearance. twitter.com/psmyth12/statu…

— Patrick Smyth (@psmyth12) May 21, 2013

Welker wishing Univ. of Denver lacrosse players good luck following their practice today. twitter.com/psmyth12/statu…

— Patrick Smyth (@psmyth12) May 21, 2013

For more articles related to the 2013 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse National Championship, visit our College Lacrosse section.

Of course they would, and they’ll probably do it again. Hypothesize all you want about the problems that plagued the Boston Cannons, it’s not like Paul Rabil and Ryan Boyle forgot how to play lacrosse over the winter; they’re talented players, and they’re going to grab some wins this summer.

Did you think Stephen Berger was going to shoot .077% and Ben Rubeor was going to drop 60 goals this season? Both are still possible, but not very likely, especially if you know about the law of averages. Some people/teams start off hot and get cold, others go the other way… it happens.

It’s a little something called “regression towards the mean,” a statistical term I’m only borderline comfortable using because I don’t really know anything about statistics.

In the MLL, the mean/average/what we’ve come to expect can change at several key points throughout the season. You think Ohio expects their scoring average to stay the same after the college season is done? I doubt it. We saw a lot of things this past weekend that didn’t quite gel with what we’d seen earlier this season.

Are they the exception, or the new expectation?

While we wait to find out, here’s what went down in week 4.

Charlotte Hounds 15 Hamilton Nationals 16 (OT)

The main story coming into this game turned out to be the names not in attendance, including Matt Danowski and Ryan Young for Charlotte, and Brett Queener and Cody Jamieson for Hamilton.

Hamilton jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead, but Timmy Fallon got the Hounds on the board to halt Hamilton’s momentum, and we all know nothing takes the wind out your opponent’s sails like a FOGO scoring a goal, right? Glad you agree, because we’ll come back to that later.

With two-thirds of last week’s attack out of the lineup, Charlotte head coach Mike Cerino got/was forced to do some serious lineup-juggling and he tried players at different positions: Chris Schiller picking up a longstick, Mike Sawyer and Peet Poillon at both attack and midfield, etc. Much like Cerino predicted (and after some early turnovers), Sawyer seemed well suited to the role of a north-south alley dodger, finishing with a goal and two assists in his debut.

Speaking of debuts, the late NLL arrivals seemed to get along with the new teammates just fine, as Joe Walters scored five points (3g, 2a) and Stephen Keogh notched four goals, two of which were assisted by fellow attackman, and new teammate, Kevin Cunningham.

But back to the FOGO thing: after the Hounds scored two goals to tie the game up late in the fourth quarter, Hamilton’s Matt Dolente won the overtime faceoff and ended it with a goal, their second one-goal win in as many weeks. Face offs, when done right, will always matter.

New York Lizards 14 – Ohio Machine 8

Coming into Saturday’s game against the Machine, Lizards coach Joe Spallina mentioned two things the team still needed to address and improve upon:

1. Getting Tommy Palasek involved in the Gibson-Matthews new-look attack

2. Increased offensive production from David Earl.

Check both of those things off the list, because Palasek and Earl combined for six points, Stephen Berger (shooting 2-26 coming into this game, you’ll remember) scored six of his own, and those performances alone were good enough to handle the Ohio Machine and snap New York’s two-game losing streak.

Chazz Woodson, another All-Star who began the season in a shooting slump, moved up to midfield and scored two goals, the first of which halted New York’s five-goal run to start the game. The Machine clawed their way back and made it 7-5 (though I think they were robbed on a Will Harrington crease violation that should’ve been a goal), but the Lizards scored six of the next seven goals to put the game out of reach.

The Machine had no answer for Greg Gurenlian (17-26; 9-12 in the first half), and Brian Karalunas played some of his best defense of the season, rendering Steele Stanwick largely irrelevant (just one point, an extra-man goal in the fourth quarter) throughout the entirety of the game.

The Machine won the groundball battle 27-24, so there’s that, but they’re still lacking the offensive production to compete, especially when their goalie stops one shot in the first half of the game. Three of their goals were scored by a defensive midfielder, a longstick midfielder and a FOGO. Don’t get me wrong, a goal’s a goal either way, but that means only four goals were scored by offensive players, and two of those were scored by the same person. Time to get some of those rookies in Machine uniforms and hope they pan out.

Rochester Rattlers 7 – Denver Outlaws 20

Between the Rochester defense picking up four penalties (two of which led to goals) and constantly switching their assignments instead of fighting through picks (I feel like a short stick covering Brendan Mundorf is a bad idea), this game was effectively over by halftime, as the Outlaws tossed in 20 goals for the second time this season, and won their tenth consecutive regular season game.

Aided by major contributions from his wings, Anthony Kelly controlled faceoffs all day, only allowing the Rattlers to score back-to-back goals on one occasion. Kelly went 9-14 in the first half and finished the game 21-31, including winning eight of nine draws in the third quarter, when the score ballooned from 9-3 to 14-5.

With Mike Leveille out of the Rattlers’ lineup, the Outlaws used two poles to cover midfielders while putting a short-stick on Mark Millon, which, if you grew up in the “Offensive Wizardry” days, is quite possibly blowing your mind and/or making you feel pretty old right now. Millon finished with one assist.

Since we’re talking about Rochester attackmen, remember how I mentioned that keeping New Crotty at x was such a great idea? Well, maybe they should have moved him to midfield for this game, because he wouldn’t have had to spend so much time with Lee Zink. Crotty’s offensive contribution in this game? One shot. One. Shot. And it’s not like he was being face guarded and completely taken out of the play, either.

When Crotty got the ball and made a move, Zink routinely slapped it out of his hands like he was trying to a grab a cookie before dinner. When a well-timed pick did force a defensive switch, Dillon Roy put it on the ground just the same. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team neutralize Crotty that well before.

Bayhawks 14, Cannons 15 (OT)

Think about everything the Boston Cannons had been doing wrong this season. That’s what they did against Chesapeake on Saturday, except it was the exact opposite: they dominated faceoffs, cashed in on power plays, and their big names all delivered like they’ve done in years past, all on their way to the Cannons’ first win of the season.  

Since it was Everybody Plays out of Position Week, the Cannons decided to drop Paul Rabil down to attack and have him go straight at (mostly) Nicky Polanco, resulting in a season-high seven points when he wasn’t busy peeling himself off the turf. I wouldn’t have guessed they’d move him to attack for such a large chunk of a Michael Simon-less Bayhawks game, but apparently the Cannons felt they needed him on the field more than his traditional midfield runs would allow.

I understand the strategy, but the rent’s pretty high on that part of the field; he had to know he was going to pay for it. Catch the ball? You’re getting checked. Pass the ball? You’re getting checked. Stand around minding your business? Oh, you’re definitely getting checked for that. Maybe some bigger arm pads, and Rabil could start wearing shoulders? It’s a thought.

Boston’s Chris Eck, who came into the game winning only 42% of his draws, won 20 of 30, including the first seven of the game. Meanwhile, it’s fair to say the Cannons still don’t have an answer for John Grant Jr., who finished with five goals and an assist. If you saw Junior play against the Cannons last year, chances are you already know how those goals generally went: drive from x, smash into Mitch Belisle, face dodge to dive, or go behind the back, do it again a few times. Grant had a chance to win the game with five seconds left (he chose “drive-smash-face dodge”), but the shot wouldn’t fall, and Boyle put it away early in OT.

The league takes off for Memorial Day weekend, but there’s one game before the break, on Thursday, so check back soon for the preview of that one!

Photo Credit: Mitch Lieberman

NCAA Division I All Americans

I don’t understand how IL has a list of all the AAs, and the USILA has not posted the list to its website yet, or sent out a press release to the rest of us. That is bizarre. Why send out a presser to IL before publishing it on your own site? Also, hard to call it a press release when it only goes to one outlet. Call it an IL release instead.

Evidently, the USILA and IL have some sort of secret deal. It’s hinted at in the press release:

The USILA individual awards will be released on InsideLacrosse.com on Friday morning.

Nothing like a national sporting body playing favorites with the media.

Notes: Is the list spot on to you? It NEVER is, but that’s because a perfect list is impossible. AAs are a tricky business.

There are parts I agree with, like Kaut as the keeper of the year. He was electric at times, and made PSU a contender, even if they dropped off at the end of the year. Lyle Thompson on the first team also rings perfect. At points, the list features lots of different players, from lots of different teams. But there are some issues…

My big question is, how much should team success dictate individual accolades?

The above question is mostly driven by the NINE AAs that Hop and UVA combined to get, while Jordan Houtby of Detroit got nothing. Well, at least midfielder Mike Birney of Detroit and his 40 points and 100 mph shot got something… oh, wait, he didn’t either? Can you see how some of these selections trouble me? Maryland gets seven AAs, six above HM, and Yale gets three AAs, all at the HM level.

I’m not saying it’s wrong, but it certainly doesn’t look right!

NCAA Division II All Americans

Notes: Seven different schools were represented on the First Team. Limestone and Merrimack each had three first team players. NY Tech had two, as did Limestone. When you add in the second team, there are four more schools represented. It’s great to see more schools’ top players being recognized on the higher teams.

Going further down, one of the newer teams got their first ever lacrosse AA. Greg Griffo for Tampa, well done!

NCAA D1/D2 North South Rosters

Notes: It’s great to see so many D2 players included. Two from Merrimack, and nine overall, with five on the North, and four on the South. A number of big names, three guys from Hobart on the N team, and FOUR guys for Lehigh on the S team. Usually, there is a cap of three players per college team. All the Lehigh guys deserve this honor though.

NCAA Division III All Americans

Notes: Wesleyan had five AAs, mostly on defense, including the SSDM PoY (Sam Stanton, see main image), and didn’t make the tournament. The depth of talent in D3 right now is clearly ridiculous. Dickinson had FOUR first teamers. Salisbury, the team that beat Dickinson in the tourney, had FOUR players on the second team. That’s kind of weird but reflects the regular season well. Stevenson made it to the finals, have 7 AAs, but only 3 of them aren’t on the HM team. RIT has five AAs total, and four of them are on the first or second team.

NCAA D3 North South Rosters

Notes: CAC to the ‘CAC has you covered.

Awards

Notes: This is not up to date yet, but should be soon.

2013 Under Armour AA Rosters

Notes: this is high school. FUTURE college AAs? Perhaps.

US Lacrosse Hall Of Fame

Notes: Sure, I could copy this press release and make it into a post, but that wouldn’t be journalism. Instead I’ll link you to the real source. A big year of inductions, and some very worthy individuals!

I break down the old masks vs. the new masks, talk about the basics of the issue, and then offer up an ingenious solution to this problem. It’s cost effective AND interesting.

What do you think about this issue? And would my idea work in the real world?

You can read the full online petition here. Whether or not you sign it? Well, that’s up to you.

Connor Wilson takes a look at the Clutch Elite by Brine Lacrosse, and grades it on our ten point scale. It’s Gear Review time!

When the Brine Clutch first popped onto the scene, it was an instant favorite. The thin plastic rails and sidewalls, light weight, and excellent stringing options made it an easy head for anyone to use, and even though it was light, it was still pretty stiff, so players on both ends of the field began to use it more and more.

Since then, the Clutch has seen a couple of different iterations, some involving new colors and not much else, but the basic concept has stayed the same: stiff, lightweight, and easy to string.

So when Brine released the Clutch Elite, we knew exactly how to grade it, and what was important. Of course this version of the Clutch has a new defining feature, and that is: this Clutch is more cut away than ever, and is lighter than ever.

So will it still pass the other tests that have made it so popular?

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Marburg Saints: Season Finale

There was a lot of speculation about this game in advance. The undefeated Mainz Musketeers were our guests on March 11th. Our Team has shown a season with wins against the Cologne Indians, the Ruhrpott Pirates and the loss to the gaming community Münster / Kassel, contrasted to a dominant victory against the Lumberjacks from Kaiserslautern. All in all, we stand 3-1 in the season statistics before the final game. There was also the very exciting question of which series would tear this weekend. The Mainz could never beat us on our own field, but on the other side were undefeated for more than half a season. Everything pointed to a thrilling game.

The game started in pouring rain and we also struggled in our brand new uniforms. From the beginning the Musketeers transformed the first face-off into a goal and also made further pressure. When we were able to bring it equal two minutes later, the Musketeers answered directly with a goal to regain the lead. The game swayed back and forth, but our streaks of pressure became longer and longer. The first quarter eventually ended with a 3-3. During the break, we had time to discuss the coordination problems in defense again. The break helped to got focused again with the effect of becoming the dominant team. As in the game against Kaiserslautern our offensive really got the ball rolling. It were cleverly combined plays and teamwork that took away the pleasure of the game of the Musketeers. However the Musketeers didn’t give up and in many situations and our defense got the slide at the very last moment and our goalie and MVP of the game Matze Schmitz cane up with some huge saves.

With a comfortable 11-3 lead, we went into the last quarter in which our Saints rookies, who will be mostly the team of the next season, got the control from the advanced players to draw as much experience as possible from the last game of the season. However this gave also the Musketeers the opportunity to get back into the game but their streak of four goals were not enough to prevent the victory of the Saints. Our new jersey’s were officially shown for the first time with a 11-7 victory and the Marburg Saints series of home victories against Mainz still remains.

Even if our organized summer festival turned into a kind of “pool party” due to weather conditions, we want to thank all the parents, fans and supporters, as well as our sponsors Lavin Lacrosse for the awesome new jersey’s, RedBull and the Volksbank of Central Hessen and of course our opponents Mainz for an excellent, exciting and fair season finale .

But where does this tricky attitude come from?

We’re not sure, but we’re thinking it might come from their architecture, and in particular, this crazy staircase on campus.

Anyone have any ideas on how that is possible? We’re thoroughly confused ourselves!

Big shout out to Steve Layne for finding this video. We don’t get it either. Thankfully, Break.com seems to get it.

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One Weekend, Two Games

Our Season kicked off mediate. On the bright side we were 2-0 after two games, but on the other side we had to learn, that we needed to work hard for our wins and especially play more consistently. In both games we were able to get an early lead, but unable to keep our opponents from coming back into the game. And the next road bump of our season was already on its way. After some rescheduling we ended up with two away games on one weekend.

Our first game was against the “Müssel Rahawks” (The team partnership of the Kassel Raccoons and the Münster Mohawks). We knew that it would be a hard game, because both teams had a history of losing against us, before their teams merged. Now we had to face the best of both teams, with us still struggling with rebuilding and missing two of our starting defenders. The first half started slow with the game going back and forth. By the end of the half we were only 3-2 in front. The third quarter ended scoreless, but we lost our cool in the fourth. Decimated by several unnecessary penalties, we fell back four goals and could not recover. The game ended 6-4 and we had to admit, that the other team played smarter today.

With this upset on our back we had to go to Kaiserslautern for our next game. By then it already felt like we had spent the whole weekend in cars and locker rooms and the loss of the previous day did not help to raise our moods. On the other side we knew that we had to get ready for another game, and that the only right answer to being 2-1 now could be a win. Our opponent were the K-Town Lumberjacks, a team with a lot of American players that we remembered as really tough.

We started good in the first quarter, although we were still missing two of our staring defenders, we played a solid team defense, but did not manage to execute well on offense. The Lumberjacks grew stronger and managed to sneak one ball past our Goalie. Apparently this was the wakeup call our Offense needed. With three quick goals we recaptured the lead in the first quarter on regained our field dominance. From the second quarter on the game belonged only to the Saints. Our Offense really started to click and our Defense played an excellent game. The few shots that we had to give up were saved by our Goalie Matze Schmitz, who held the Lumberjacks scoreless for the rest of the game.

When the final whistle blew, we had won 16-1 and made a clear statement, that the previous loss was just a hiccup on the way. With our 3-1 record we are now preparing for our season highlight, the home game against our closest rival the Mainz Musketeers.

If your photo gets chosen for our Photo of the Week, we’ll hook you up with your very own LaxAllStars.com Prize Pack courtesy of the The Lacrosse Shop. To submit your photo, simply click the link and send it in to us!

In 1989 the USILA Scholar All-America Program was established to recognize student-athletes from USILA member institutions who have distinguished themselves academically, athletically and as citizens of their communities. The USILA Selection Committee selects an overall team representing Division I, II and III. The Scholar All-Americas are recognized at the annual Lacrosse All-America Banquet.

Wait, you want MORE than just that brief description? Ok, here is an excerpt from the Nomination Form:

NCAA D3 Championship

RIT vs. Stevenson

This Sunday, May 26th at 4 PM EST, RIT and Stevenson will go toe-to-toe to decide who will be crowned the champion of NCAA D3 lacrosse for the 2013 season. While we can’t be sure who will win the game, we can be sure that D3 will see a new champion crowned this season, as neither RIT nor Stevenson has ever won a national title at this level.

RIT comes into this game at 19-2, with both losses coming in overtime games. Stevenson comes into this game at 21-2 with losses to Tufts and Roanoke, both by one goal. RIT and Stevenson have already seen each other once this year, but that way back in February. Stevenson took the first match-up 12-11 in an overtime thriller. RIT’s other OT loss was to Cortland, whom they beat in the Final Four last weekend, also in OT.

I think you can see how predicting this game is going to be tough!

To get to the Championship game, RIT took down Cabrini 22-13, Tufts 14-5, and then survived a late comeback by top-seeded Cortland to take the game 10-9 in OT. Stevenson beat Christopher Newport 18-6, WAC 17-13, Lynchburg 13-7, and then Salisbury 12-6. Both of these teams had very tough roads to take in order to play in the game on Sunday and should be well prepared for each other.

Both teams will push the ball at times, and make tricky or risky plays.

Stevenson is known for their flash, and fancy Maryland stick work, and has a couple of guys who can shoot the lights out, like Mark Pannenton. They have a large, athletic defense, and can dominate on special teams (EMO, man down, face offs, etc). Stevenson’s trip to the Finals has been a long time coming, and there was no more fitting way for them to make it in than by defeating Salisbury.

RIT is also a risk-taking team, but they are far from a carbon copy of Stevenson. They too have great face off work, and can tear a team apart on EMO. The RIT D will thrown checks, and their poles have some of the slicker handles in the country. How risky is RIT? They won their FF game with a hidden ball trick goal, and also got an assist from their own goalie, from behind RIT’s cage. Yes, you read that right.

The game will be broadcast live on NCAA.com, so make sure to tune in to catch all the great action. If you want to see up and down, throw caution to the wind lacrosse, D3 definitely has you more than covered.