ROCHESTER, NY – The Bowdoin College men's lacrosse team will head to RIT for an NCAA Quarterfinal/Semifinal regional this weekend.
RIT will take on Bowdoin on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. before Salisbury and Tufts square off at 3:00 p.m. The two winners will meet on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. with a berth in next week's national championship game on the line. Tickets can be purchased at the gate and are $5.00 for adults and $3 for students/children.
The regional is loaded with four of the nation's top teams, including the ninth-ranked Polar Bears. RIT is the defending national champion and currently ranked second in the latest USILA Division III poll. The other quarterfinal game features top-ranked Salisbury and fifth-ranked Tufts. Sunday's semifinal winner will advance to the NCAA Division III Championship game on Sunday, May 29, in East Hartford, Conn.
Saturday, May 21
12:00 PM - RIT vs. Bowdoin
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LIVE STATS
3:00 PM - Salisbury vs. Tufts
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Sunday May 22
3:00 PM - National Semifinal -
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ABOUT THE POLAR BEARS
Bowdoin advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals with a 17-12 win over St. Lawrence in
last Sunday's third-round game. First-year
Patrick Fitzgerald led the Polar Bears with three goals and five points, while sophomores
Will Byrne and
Oliver Bernstein and senior
Zach Chandler each scored three goals. Freshman goalie
Robert Hobbs made 15 saves to earn the win.
Bowdoin finished runner-up in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) before receiving an at-large bid to its third NCAA Tournament appearance in program history. Its been a historic campaign for the Polar Bears, who have set the program record for consecutive wins (14), wins in a season (18) and reached the NCAA Quarterfinals for the first time in program history.
Bowdoin swept the NESCAC's major awards in All-Conference honors announced earlier this month.
The Polar Bears enter the quarterfinal 11th in Division III with 17.35 goals per game, while outscoring their opponents, 347-243. Bowdoin has also converted 17-of-47 (36.2 percent) man-up chances. Bowdoin features seven players with 20 or more points and 10 players with at least 20 goals. Senior
Donal Mullane is 11th in Division III with 105 points and third averaging 6.56 points per game. He is also 14th in Division averaging 3.69 goals per game and 16th with 2.88 assists per contest. Byrne is second on the team in scoring with 95 points (65G, 30A) and Fitzgerald is third with 65 points (49G, 16A).
Bowdoin allows 12.15 goals per game, while causing 7.85 turnovers per contest. The Polar Bears are winning 61.9 percent of their face-offs, average 36.45 ground balls per game and have stopped their opponents man-up 58-of-85 (68.2 percent) times. Hobbs is 18-2 on the season with a 12.22 goals against average and a .544 save percentage. Sophomore defenseman
Noah Robb leads Bowdoin with 16 caused turnovers, just ahead of senior
AJ Bravo with 15. Sophomore
Ethan Barnard leads the Polar Bears with 174 ground balls and has won 325-of-523 (62.1 percent) of his face-offs.
Bowdoin's only losses this season are to Tufts, including a 20-11 road setback in the NESCAC Championship game (May 8), after also falling 23-15, to the host Jumbos (Apr. 27) during the regular season. The Polar Bears have never played RIT and are 0-3 all time vs. Salisbury, but have not played the Gulls since 2001.
