NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University men's lacrosse team picked up their first NCAA Division III Tournament victory on Wednesday afternoon in a first round contest against Maine Maritime. Now the Cadets will prepare to play in the Medford Regional against pod host Tufts on Saturday, May. 14 at 1 pm.
Norwich (19-1, 10-0 GNAC) earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament last Saturday when they defeated Lasell 11-8 for their third Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) title and second in the past three conference tournaments. The Cadets were rewarded for their record-breaking season, with their first NCAA Tournament home contest against Maine Maritime, defeating the Mariners, 20-12.
Tufts (16-2, 9-1 NESCAC) are coming into their first game of the 2022 Tournament after winning their 11th New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Title over the past 12 seasons. Tufts, who is tied for the #4 in the country with pod mate St. John Fisher, defeated Bowdoin, 20-11, on Sunday to earn their spot in the NCAA Tournament.
Tufts ranks third in the country in scoring offense, averaging 19.94 goals per game while the Cadets rank 30th in the category scoring 15.75 goals per game. Tufts also edges out the Cadets in scoring margin as the Jumbos average 7.72 more goals than their opponents and Norwich averages 6.05.
Parker Campbell (Rockaway, N.J.) has 107 points on the season, leading the Cadets, off 37 goals and 70 assists. Payden Masaracchia (Enola, Pa.) is Norwich's leading goal scorer with 63 goals on the season including six goals in Wednesday's first round contest. Callum Jones (Burlington, Ont.) rounds out the top three-point scorers for Norwich totaling 72 points with 42 goals and 30 assists. Jack Anzalone (Ridgewood, N.J.) and Tyler Seidel (Centreville, Md.) both have scored over 50 points this season for Norwich totaling 59 and 51 points respectively. Norwich has assisted on 61.9 percent of their 315 goals this season.
The Jumbos offense is run primarily through senior attacker Mac Bredahl who has totaled 116 points with 61 goals and 55 assists Jack Boyden also topped the 110-point mark, with 70 goals and 40 assists. Camden Kelleher added 51 goals and 26 assists for Tufts offense and was followed by teammate Tommy Swank who had 53 points with 52 goals and 11 helpers.
Mason McMahon (Norwich, Conn.) leads the Cadets with 22 caused turnovers with 64 ground balls on the season. Gavin Youngclaus (Middleboro, Mass.) is second 21 caused turnovers and 31 ground balls. Seidel and Campbell provide added pressure as attackers causing 17 and 16 turnovers each, while Adam Sanchez (Selkirk, N.Y.) has 15 caused turnovers and 41 ground balls.
Tufts' Kyle Adelmann leads the Jumbos in caused turnovers with 41 on the season, while picking up 73 ground balls. Michael Ayers had 21 caused turnovers and 42 ground balls. Joey Waldbaum has 20 caused turnvoers on the season and has picked up 64 ground balls to round out the top three.
Thomas Muraski (Keller, Texas) has won 63.8 percent of his faceoff attempts this season and will take on a trio of Parker Merrill, Mason Kohn, and Aidan Hesse who are a combined 333 for 608 on the year.
In net Andrew Vernon (Cheshire, Conn.) has a 5-1 record on the season, with a goals-against average of 10.17. Vernon also has a save percentage of 55.3 percent. Conner Garzone went 16-2 on the year and started all 18 games for the Jumbos. He has a 12.35 goals-against average with a 52.0 save percentage.
The winner of Saturday's matchup will advance to play the winner of the St. John Fisher and Catholic matchup on Sunday.
St. John Fisher (15-2, 6-0 Empire 8), champions of the Empire 8, have defeated four nationally ranked teams this season, while falling to #2 RIT and #8 Union. The Cardinals are currently tied with Tufts for the #4 ranking in the country.
Catholic (13-4, 7-0 Landmark) round out the pod, after defeating Elizabethtown 16-8 in the Landmark Championship. The Cardinals are currently receiving votes in the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) poll.
The winners of Saturday's contests will play each other on Sunday, May 15 at 4 pm.
