CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The 2011 America East men's lacrosse champion will be decided on Saturday when top-seeded Stony Brook and second-seeded Hartford meet at LaValle Stadium on Long Island at 3 p.m.
The game, which will be the first-ever meeting between the two teams in the postseason, will be nationally televised on CBS Sports Network. Matt McConnell (play-by-play) and Eric Washburn (analyst) will have the call.
The Seawolves (10-3), who are ranked 13th in both national polls, downed Binghamton, 12-8, Wednesday to earn their third straight America East title game appearance. Winners of seven straight, Stony Brook is 2-1 in previous America East title games, winning in 2002 and 2010 and losing in 2009.
Making their first America East Championship appearance since 2003, the Hawks earned their first trip to the league final since that season with a 14-11 victory over UMBC Wednesday. Hartford, whose 10 wins are more than their total from the last four years combined (8), has its most victories since winning 14 in 2000.
Stony Brook has won four straight over the Hawks and leads the all-time series 18-5. The Seawolves overcame a 6-3 fourth-quarter deficit to rally for a 10-8 win in the two teams' regular-season meeting on April 9. Hartford's last win in the series was a 6-4 victory in 2007.
The game will feature 19 All-America East selections, including 10 first-team all-league honorees. Ten choices from Hartford and nine from Stony Brook, including the league's Player of the Year, Jordan McBride, who leads the conference and ranks among national leaders with 37 goals.
The winner of Saturday's contest will receive an automatic berth in the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship. Of the six Division I conferences that receive an NCAA automatic qualifier to the Men’s Lacrosse Championship (America East, CAA, ECAC, Ivy, MAAC, Patriot), America East is the only one to have three different programs reach the NCAA quarterfinal round within the last four years. Albany and UMBC won first-round contests, over Loyola and Maryland, respectively, in 2007, and Stony Brook defeated Denver in the first round last season.
Tickets prices are $8 for adults, $5 for youth and
$2 for students of America East institutions with proper ID. Tickets
can be purchased online, by calling the box office at 631-632-WOLF (9653) or at the LaValle Stadium gate on Saturday.