ERIE, Pa.- The #1 Mercyhurst men's lacrosse team hosts #9 Lake Erie College in an NCAA Tournament Quarterfinal Saturday, May 11. Faceoff is slated for 1 p.m. at Tullio Field.
 
Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students. No complimentary passes will be accepted for the contest. Also, no dogs are allowed at Tullio Field.
 
Live stats will be available at http://www.sidearmstats.com/hurst/mlax/scoreboard.aspx. A live America ONE broadcast will be available at http://www.americaonesports.com/static/mercyhurst.html. The game central page is available here. For game notes, please click here.


 
Mercyhurst is 16-0, including the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) regular season and tournament championships. The Lakers completed their second consecutive undefeated regular season and have earned home-field advantage in the first two rounds of the newly-expanded NCAA Tournament.
 
Lake Erie sports a 12-4 record and will make its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance this weekend. The Storm posted their first winning record in 2013 and defeated Seton Hill in the ECAC Tournament Semifinals to stake their claim to a playoff spot. 
 
Coach Chris Ryan's squad is making its third NCAA Tournament appearance in a row. They won the national title in 2011 and then lost an NCAA Semifinal, 7-6 in overtime, to eventual champion Dowling in 2012.
 
This year, senior Brian Scheetz leads the offense with 61 points. The school's career points leader, Scheetz has put up 21 points in five career matches against LEC. Jake McAndrew has scored 34 goals, including seven in the ECAC Tournament. The junior earned Tournament Most Valuable Player honors. Michael Grace is giving up 7.42 goals per game and has a .571 save percentage in 16 starts in goal this season. Andrew Wagner is the Lakers' top defender, having earned ECAC Defensive Player of the Year recognition after helping Mercyhurst hold 15 of its 16 opponents under their season scoring average.
 
Keegan Bal was named ECAC Offensive Player of the Year and has 46 goals and 34 assists this season. He is the third leading point-scorer in Division II this season. Trevor Tarte is the nation's top goal-scorer with 60 as the Storm rank second in scoring offense nationally. Greg Stocks was chosen ECAC Coach of the Year after guiding LEC to third place in the conference.
 
For the first time in program history, the Lakers will face an opponent for a third time in a single season. They won, 13-12, at Lake Erie April 16, as Scheetz totaled three goals and four assists. Mercyhurst went ahead, 13-10, midway through the fourth quarter, but the Storm rallied with two goals. LEC took possession in the final minute and had two shots to tie the game, but Grace made two saves to preserve the Lakers' fourth one-goal victory of the year.

On May 5, Mercyhurst scored six times in the first period and rolled to a 13-7 win in the ECAC Tournament Championship. McAndrew posted a hat trick and James Chayka had three goals and two assists.
 
The winner of the Saturday's match will advance to the NCAA Tournament Semifinals to take on the winner of the Seton Hill-Limestone quarterfinal. For the full NCAA Tournament bracket, please click here.