Teams: Men's Lacrosse: Press Releases

JUMBOS HOST ENDICOTT IN NCAA SECOND-ROUND GAME ON SATURDAY

MEDFORD -- The Tufts University men's lacrosse team received a first-round bye in the 2010 NCAA Championship and will host a second-round game on Saturday, May 15 at Bello Field against Endicott College beginning at 3:00 pm.

This is the second straight NCAA berth and the third overall for Tufts. They won their first NESCAC title on Sunday with a thrilling 13-12 final over Middlebury College and enter NCAA's with a 16-1 record. This will be the third NCAA men's lacrosse game played at Bello.

Tufts will face Endicott for the second time this season and for the second time in NCAA play. On April 20 at Bello, Tufts scored six unanswered goals at the start of the second quarter to take control of the game, and the Jumbos eventually earned a 14-9 victory over the Gulls. With the win, Tufts had responded to their only loss of the season at Connecticut College on April 17. Junior Ryan Molloy (Setauket, NY) and sophomore Sean Kirwan (Boonton Township, NJ) each scored four goals to lead the Jumbos.

The Jumbos have a 1-2 record in the NCAA Championship. In their first NCAA game on May 9, 2007, Tufts built an 8-1 lead and then narrowly survived an Endicott comeback to move on in the NCAA Tournament with a 9-8 victory at Bello Field. Current senior Jamie Atkins (Concord, MA) scored a goal as a freshman in that game. The Jumbos lost 12-7 at Gettysburg in the 2007 second round. Last season in the second round, spurred by a 4-0 third period, Western New England College defeated Tufts 12-9. D.J. Hessler (Monkton, MD) added three assists to the Tufts attack. Defensemen Eytan Saperstein (Hewlett, NY) and Evan Crosby (Yarmouthport, MA) played well with six ground balls apiece. Nick Rhoads (McLean, VA) won nine of 17 face-offs.

For Endicott, senior midfielder Jonathan Prentice scored the final three goals, including a back-breaking man-down tally with 2:42 to play, as the Gulls rallied past Montclair State 8-6 in the first round of the 2010 NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship at Sprague Field in Montclair, New Jersey on Wednesday evening. The tournament win is the Gulls' second in program history in the NCAA postseason, with the only other victory coming in 2005 against Keene State. Junior attack Jack Curtis (Chelmsford, MA) added two goals and two assists as the Gulls improved to 14-7 with their sixth straight win.

Saturday's Tufts-Endicott game will be carried by JumboCast, Tufts University's student webcasting outfit, for free at http://www.jumbocast.com/index.php. Live stats will also be available at http://ase.tufts.edu/athletics/statscrew/xlive.htm.

►2010 NCAA Div. III Men's Lacrosse Championship bracket

Materials from Endicott College's website were used in this release.

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