INDIANAPOLIS -- For the first time in program history, University of Hartford will appear in the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship when the Hawks visit second-ranked Cornell on Saturday, May 14 at 7:30 p.m. The game will be televised nationally on ESPNU. The Hawks, whose 11 wins are their most since 2000, learned their NCAA fate during the NCAA selection show on ESPNU Sunday.
Hartford (11-6) earned America East's automatic bid to the tournament with a thrilling 11-10 win over Stony Brook in the league title game Sunday on Ryan Compitello's goal with one second remaining. Tim Fallon dominated the faceoff circle, 16-8, and won 26-of-43 draws in the tournament to go with 26 ground balls en route to earning Most Outstanding Player honors.
The Hawks, who have won more games (11) than the previous four seasons combined (9), feature 11 All-America East standouts, including Fallon, who ranks among national leaders in both faceoff percentage (.627) and ground balls per game (9.3 gbpg). Juniors Carter Bender (51 points) and Compitello (48) pace a Hartford offense, which averages 10.4 goals per game.
Cornell (13-2) earned the championship's No. 2 overall seed after downing Harvard in the Ivy League title game earlier Sunday, 15-6. Winners of 10 straight games, the Big Red are led by the nation's top scorer in senior Rob Pannell, a Tewaaraton Award candidate, who has 82 points on 37 goals and 45 assists this year.
Hartford can become the fourth different America East team to reach the NCAA quarterfinal round since 2007 with a win. Albany and UMBC accomplished the feat in '07 while Stony Brook did it last year. Of the six leagues that receive NCAA automatic bids, only America East has had three different teams win a game in that span.
All eight first and second round games of the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship will be played May 14 or 15 and televised on the ESPN family of networks. The quarterfinal rounds will take place May 21 or 22 at University of Hofstra and Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass while the Final Four is Memorial Day weekend at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. UMBC will serve as a quad host for the event.