Posted: May 10, 2010
BEVERLY, Mass. – The NCAA Selection Committee released the 2010 Division III Men’s Lacrosse Championship Tournament bracket on Sunday evening and Endicott College has drawn an opening round matchup against Montclair State University on Wednesday in Montclair, N.J. The Red Hawks will host their first-ever NCAA men’s lacrosse tournament game in just their second appearance in the dance, while the Gulls return to the postseason for a sixth time in program history.
The Gulls, who earned a berth into the tournament by winning The Commonwealth Coast Conference, will have their hands full when they meet Montclair State on Wednesday. The Red Hawks got a bid into the field of 23 after winning the Skyline Conference championship with a 12-8 win over Kean University. The winner of the Endicott and MSU contest will travel to Medford, Mass. on Saturday to face the NESCAC champion Jumbos of Tufts University. Endicott and Tufts have met once already this season with the Jumbos taking a 14-9 win on April 20th.
The Red Hawks tout the Skyline Conference Player of the Year in Taylor Bonner (Old Bridge, N.J.), who has notched 38 goals and 16 assists. Robert Sinicola (North Caldwell, N.J.), who scored five goals in the conference title game, leads the MSU offense with 77 points on 29 goals and 48 assists. Tyler Meth (Basking Ridge, N.J.) will also be a threat, as the First Team All-Skyline honoree has a potent 41 goals in 2010.
The Commonwealth Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year \#Eric Hagarty\# (Sudbury, Mass.) will look to backstop the Blue and Green past the Red Hawks. Hagarty posted a 58.5% save percentage, making 172 saves in 20 games. \#Brad Lipkvich\# (Madison, Conn.), a TCCC First Team selection, has 34 goals in his senior campaign with seven of those tallies coming in the postseason. \#Jack Curtis\# (Chelmsford, Mass.) is the Gulls’ highest point scorer, boasting 18 goals and 31 assists for 49 points. \#Jonathan Prentice\# (Chelmsford, Mass.) will look to showcase his team-high 36 goals in the NCAA Tournament.
Both teams will enter the national playoff with strong winning streaks intact. MSU has won 14 straight dating back to March 15th and have climbed to No. 17 in the USILA poll, the program’s first-ever national ranking. Endicott has won five in-a-row, last losing at Tufts University.
The two teams share just one common opponent, the Stevens Institute of Technology. The Ducks made the long trip to Beverly in the second game of the Gulls’ season, topping the Blue and Green by the score of 7-6. Montclair State, however, downed Stevens Tech with an impressive 8-5 win on March 20th, and then knocked off No. 19 RIT in double overtime exactly one week later, 4-3.
Endicott, in its sixth NCAA appearance, is 1-5 in tournament games with its only win coming back in 2005 when the Gulls took down LEC Champion Keene State, 11-10. Montclair is 0-1 lifetime in the NCAA Tournament, falling to Cabrini College, 17-3, last season.
