Defending Champ Middlebury Earns Top Seed on Final Day of Regular Season

HADLEY, Mass. - Seven-time defending champion Middlebury College has earned the number-one seed and a first round bye in the 2008 NESCAC Men’s Lacrosse Championship. The Panthers will begin their quest for the 2008 NESCAC crown when they host the semifinals on Saturday, May 3, followed by the final on Sunday, May 4 in Middlebury, Vt. First round action for the seven-team tournament begins on Sunday, April 27 at Wesleyan, Tufts and Bowdoin.

Middlebury (12-1, 8-1 NESCAC) needed a win on the final day of the regular in order to guarantee itself the top seed in this year’s championship, and the Panthers delivered with a 9-4 decision against Tufts in Middlebury, Vt. Saturday’s victory over Tufts was by the largest margin for Middlebury in nearly a month, as the Panthers had not won by more than three goals since their March 29 game against Colby (13-7). Middlebury’s lone setback this spring came at the hands of Trinity at home on April 12, 6-5, and the Panthers head into the semifinals riding a three-game winning streak. During last year’s championship, Middlebury, which has won every NESCAC crown since the inception of tournament play in 2001 and holds a 15-0 playoff record, limped into the playoffs with a 4-5 conference mark only to run the table as the sixth seed and win the program’s seventh NESCAC title.

Wesleyan (9-4, 7-2 NESCAC) enters the championship as the second seed for the third year in a row having won four of its last five games, the only loss during that stretch coming against Middlebury, 11-8 on April 19. The Cardinals wrapped up the regular season on Saturday afternoon with a 14-10 win at Bates and will host seventh-seed and rival Trinity (6-8, 3-6 NESCAC) on Sunday in first round action. After finishing third in the conference a year ago, the Bantams barely made this year’s championship field as they earned the seventh seed by holding the tie-breaker advantage over Amherst, which also finished with a 3-6 conference mark. Trinity went 1-4 over its last five league contests, the lone win the aforementioned 6-5 victory over Middlebury, however three of the four losses were by exactly two goals. Wesleyan won the single regular season meeting 7-5 on April 16 in Hartford, and the only playoff contest between these two squads went the way of the Cardinals 8-7 in the first round of the 2004 tournament. Wesleyan has reached the final in each of the last four championships, while Trinity has not advanced out of the first round in any of its three previous playoff appearances.

After earning the top seed in 2007, third-seed Tufts (9-5, 6-3 NESCAC) came within striking distance of the number-one seed for the second year in a row but fell short due to the 9-4 season finale loss at Middlebury. The Jumbos turned around a 3-3 start to their season by winning six of their last eight games and will face a resurgent sixth-seed Williams (7-5, 4-5 NESCAC). The Ephs may have been written off by many to even make this year’s championship after an 0-3 start to the conference slate, which included a 7-4 loss at Tufts on March 15. Williams, however, turned its 2008 campaign around in April by going 3-1 over its last four conference games and solidifying its playoff spot with an 8-7 come-from-behind overtime victory against Bowdoin to close the regular season. Sunday’s battle will be the first in playoff history between these two squads. The Jumbos reached the semifinals for the fourth time in their last five tournament appearances a year ago, while the Ephs garnered their program’s first NESCAC postseason victory at rival Amherst during the 2007 playoffs.

Fourth-seed Bowdoin (9-5, 5-4 NESCAC) will look to rebound from Saturday’s disappointing overtime loss at Williams on Sunday against fifth-seed Connecticut College (10-5, 5-4 NESCAC). Although the two clubs tied in the NESCAC standings for the fourth spot, the Polar Bears held the head-to-head tie-breaker by virtue of an 8-6 win over the Camels in the season-opener for both teams on March 9 in New London, Conn. Connecticut College is one of the hottest teams in the conference at the moment, as the Camels pushed their current unbeaten streak to five with Saturday’s 7-5 victory over Trinity and have won six of their last seven outings. On the other side of the field, the Polar Bears’ setback to the Ephs snapped a three-game winning streak, however Bowdoin has still won five of its last seven games. Returning after a two-year absence from the playoffs, Connecticut College is looking to move into the semifinals for only the second time in tournament history (2001), while Bowdoin hopes to reach the round of four for the second time in three attempts.

2008 NESCAC MEN’S LACROSSE CHAMPIONSHIP
First Round - Sunday, April 27 at Higher Seeds
No. 5 Connecticut College at No. 4 Bowdoin - 1:00 p.m.
No. 7 Trinity at No. 2 Wesleyan - 2:00 p.m.
No. 6 Williams at No. 3 Tufts - 3:00 p.m.

Semifinals - Saturday, May 3 at Middlebury
No. 1 Middlebury vs. lowest remaining seed - 12:00 p.m.
Remaining first round winners - 3:00 p.m.

Championship - Sunday, May 4 at Middlebury
Semifinal winners - 12:00 p.m.