POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - The Marist men's lacrosse team (13-3, 6-0 MAAC) will host the Bryant Bulldogs in the preliminary round of the NCAA Championships it was announced during the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Selection Show on Sunday on ESPNU. The contest is scheduled for 7 p.m. May 6.
Wednesday will be the first time Marist has hosted an NCAA Tournament contest in any one of its 23 varsity sports.
With a 16-14 win over Quinnipiac on May 2 in Tenney Stadium, the Red Foxes clinched their first Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference title in a decade and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships. Marist took down Monmouth, 11-6, on April 30 in the semifinal round of the conference championships, which it hosted for the second consecutive season.
The NCAA Tournament features 18 teams for the second straight year, as 10 conference winners earned automatic berths and eight teams received at-large bids. The Red Foxes will be playing in one of two preliminary round matchups Wednesday, the other being Towson at High Point.
Marist tied program records with 11 wins during the regular season, including six in conference play. The Red Foxes went undefeated in the MAAC for the first time since 2004. It enters the NCAA Championships on an eight-game winning streak.
The Bulldogs (8-9, 4-2 NEC) upset the top seeded Saint Joseph's Hawks, winning the Northeast Conference Tournament Championship final, 10-6, on May 1. Bryant scored three unanswered goals in the third quarter to build on a 5-4 edge at the half. They led by as many as five in the fourth frame on their way to the win.
This is Marist's second trip to the NCAA Tournament. It last played at Johns Hopkins in the first round of the 2005 tournament.