WEST BAYLON, N.Y. – For the third consecutive season, Mercy, Frostburg State, Roberts Wesleyan, and Molloy have qualified for the East Coast Conference Men’s Lacrosse Championship.
The tournament gets underway on Wednesday, May 1 with the semifinal matchups on the campus sites of the higher seeds. The championship game of the tournament will be hosted by the highest remaining seed on Saturday, May 4 at a time to be determined.
After earning a fifth straight ECC Regular-Season Championship, Mercy (12-1, 6-0 ECC) will be the tournament’s top seed. The four-time defending champion Mavericks have now won 35 straight games against ECC competition, with their last loss coming in the 2018 ECC Championship. Mercy is currently the fifth-ranked Division II team in the nation across all three major lacrosse polls.
Mercy’s semifinal opponent will be No. 4 Molloy (8-8, 3-3 ECC), who is in the bracket for the fourth straight year and fifth time in six seasons.
The teams met in regular-season action on April 6, where Mercy came away with a 12-7 road win over Molloy. Midfielder Greg Gibbons paced the Mavericks’ offense with a game-high five points on a game-high three goals and two assists to go with six ground balls, face-off specialist Jason Kuehner went 12-for-22 from the X with a game-high nine ground balls, and goalkeeper Peter Murphy got the win in net with 12 saves in the full 60:00.
The other semifinal will see No. 2 Frostburg State (12-3, 5-1 ECC) hosting No. 3 Roberts Wesleyan (10-5, 4-2 ECC). The Bobcats, ranked 15th in this week’s USILA/Blatant Lacrosse Top 20 Coaches Poll and 13th in this week’s Inside Lacrosse Top 20 Media Poll, will host a semifinal for the third straight year while the Redhawks are making their fifth consecutive appearance in the championship tournament.
The teams also met in regular-season action on April 6, where Frostburg State took a 20-13 road win over Roberts Wesleyan. 12-7 road win over Molloy. Five Bobcats posted four or more points in the offensive explosion, led by Chase Buckwalter’s game-high seven points on four goals and three assists. Bubba Love (4g, 1a) and Justin Hulse (2g, 3a) added five points apiece while Austin Sipes and Owen McCallum contributed hat tricks.
All games during the championship will be broadcast live on the ECC Network website and the ECC Network app on Apple and Android mobile devices and on Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV, and Roku streaming devices.
To read Twitter updates throughout the tournament, follow @ECCSports. Tournament recaps, live stats, box scores and all other pertinent tournament information will also be available at the championship central website (link below).
2024 East Coast Conference Men’s Lacrosse Championship
Semifinals – Wednesday, May 1 at Higher Seeds
3:00 p.m. - No. 4 Molloy at No. 1 Mercy
4:00 p.m. - No. 3 Roberts Wesleyan vs. No. 2 Frostburg State
Final – Saturday, May 4 at Highest Remaining Seed
Time TBA - Semifinal winner vs. semifinal winner