Local College SportsUAlbany

Danes to dance again in NCAA Tournament

ALBANY, NY –- A year after being upset in the conference semifinals, the #6/5 1-seed UAlbany men’s lacrosse team put together one of most dominant tournaments in America East history, taking down 3-seed Binghamton 20-8 in the final to earn its eighth league tournament title.

It’s UAlbany’s fourth title in the last five years and eighth overall, all coming since 2003. UAlbany has earned an automatic qualifier into the 2017 NCAA Tournament, its ninth appearance in the postseason.

UAlbany (14-2) began the game with three goals in the opening two minutes and never looked back against Binghamton (11-5). UAlbany earned at least four goals in every quarter, outshooting the Bearcats 51-30, including netting 20 of their 26 shots on goal, and won 21-of-30 faceoffs.

UAlbany set numerous records in a stellar performance in the America East Tournament, including most goals with 39, total margin of victory at +25, team faceoff percentage at 77.9% and most assists by one player as Connor Fields notched 11 in the two games. UAlbany had defeated 4-seed Stony Brook 19-6 on Thursday.

“That is complete a weekend as we ever had from Thursday night’s game to today’s performance, every kid had both oars in the water, pulling in the same direction,” said UAlbany head coach Scott Marr, who has been at the helm of all eight of the program’s America East Tournament titles. “I am really proud of our effort, to go from where we were since losing in the semifinals last year and putting in the effort since September.”

UAlbany will find out its next game on the NCAA Selection Show on Sunday, May 7th at 9 p.m. on ESPNU. UAlbany is in the running for a potential NCAA home game in the first round.

 

-Dave Vatz/UAlbany Sports Information

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