BRYN ATHYN, Pa. – The Bryn Athyn College men's lacrosse team plays for its first North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) championship when the Lions take on host Morrisville State in the final of the NEAC Tournament on Saturday, May 5 at 5 p.m. on Morrisville State's Drake Field.
Tickets will be available at Drake Field's main entrance one hour prior to the start of the game and are $4 per adult, $2 per student, and children 12 and under are admitted free.
HOW THEY GOT HERE
Bryn Athyn (9-6)—the second seed—jumped out to a 5-0 lead and then held off Hilbert College to pick up an 8-4 victory in the semifinal round. Jon Carr recorded three goals, including his 100th career point, while Riley Flynn scored twice. Brad DePasquale notched seven saves. The Lions outshot the Hawks 43-25 and owned a 15-1 advantage in faceoffs.
Top-seeded Morrisville State (10-7) cruised to a 17-5 victory in its semifinal match against Keuka. Nine different Mustangs got into the scoring act, led by a four-goal, three-assist performance from Nick Geswaldo. Goalie Dan Sherlock had nine saves. Morrisville State won 20 of the 26 faceoffs.
AT STAKE
The winner receives the NEAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
SERIES HISTORY
The Lions are 0-5 against the Mustangs all-time, 0-1 in the NEAC Tournament. The two teams met in the semifinals of the 2016 NEAC Tournament with host Morrisville State eliminating Bryn Athyn by a 14-8 score. During the 2018 season, Morrisville State scored three fourth-quarter goals to come from a goal down to pick up an 11-9 win on April 4 on General Ronald K. Nelson Field. Jon Carr led the Lions with five goals and one assist, while Logan Peters scored three times for the Mustangs.
The margin between the teams has been 9.00 goals in the three games on Drake Field, while the difference is 2.00 goals in the two meetings on General Nelson Field.
SCOUTING THE LIONS
Bryn Athyn is in the NEAC Tournament field for the third straight year and this will be the Lions' first appearance in the final game.
NEAC Offensive Player of the Year Cameron Leech enters the game second in Division III in assists per game (3.80) and fifth in points per game (6.20). He is the record holder for assists (56) and points (92) in a season. Leech had a season-low two points against Hilbert and was held goal-less for the first time since the season-opener at Gwynedd Mercy on Feb. 28. He had six assists in the first meeting with the Mustangs.
Jon Carr—an All-NEAC first team player—became the fourth player in Bryn Athyn history to record 100 career points, needing just 31 matches to get to the century mark. He is second on the team with 42 goals and 50 points, which are third and seventh in the NEAC, respectively. Carr has at least three goals in three of the last four matches.
Nolan Frame—named to the All-NEAC second team—sits at 199 career points. If he gets one point on Saturday, he will be the first Lion to record 200 career points. Frame has a program-record 43 goals this season. The 43 goals are second in the NEAC. He had a string of six straight games with at least three goals snapped against Hilbert.
Shane McCurdy had his best game of the season at the faceoff X on Wednesday as he won 12 of his 13 faceoffs. He is fourth in the NEAC with 115 faceoff wins and 21st with a 47.9 faceoff winning percentage.
Riley Flynn has scored a goal in five of the last six matches.
All-NEAC first-team defender Alex Hyatt is seventh in the NEAC with 24 caused turnovers.
Brad DePasquale, an All-NEAC first-team pick, is third in the conference with an 8.67 goals against average and a 54.7 save percentage. He has stopped over 50.0 percent of the shots he has faced since the first Morrisville State game—when he went 11-for-22.
SCOUTING MORRISVILLE STATE
Morrisville State is the three-time defending NEAC champion with all three championships being won on Drake Field.
All-NEAC first teamer Nick Geswaldo Morrisville State's top scorer with a NEAC-high 45 goals and is third in the conference with 64 points. Geswaldo—who was held pointless against Bryn Athyn—has at least three goals in each of the last four matches and at least four points in the last seven.
After Geswaldo, the Mustangs are getting balanced contributions from Brad Biggs (24 goals), Logan Peters (22 goals), and Chris Dovi (21 goals). Twenty-one different players have scored a goal this season for the Mustangs.
Nate McCormick and Shawn Walberger both have won 88 faceoffs. Walberger has the 11th best faceoff percentage in the conference (53.3 percent), while McCormick is 20th (48.9 percent).
Chad Temple is sixth in the NEAC with a team-high 26 caused turnovers.
Goalie Dan Sherlock ranks fourth in the NEAC in goals against average (8.87) and fifth in save percentage (51.6 percent). He had six games with at least 10 saves in non-conference play, but only has one—13 saves versus Hilbert—against NEAC competition. He is on a season-high four game stretch of games with at least a 50.0 percent save percentage.