Hartford, Conn., May 11, 2012 –The Trinity College men's
lacrosse team, which won, 13-9, against Eastern Connecticut, on
Wednesday in the program's first NCAA appearance to open the
tournament and improve its record to 11-6, will visit the New
England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) rival Tufts
University Jumbos in the NCAA Second Round on Saturday, May 12 at 1
p.m. Saturday's victor will face the winner of
Saturday's Rochester Tech/Western New England game in Western
New York on Wednesday, May 16 in the NCAA Quarterfinals.
Tickets for this weekend's games will be $6 for adults, $5
for students, and $4 for children under 12. Tufts, ranked No.
4 in the nation, has a 16-2 record and received a bye in the NCAA
First Round.
Trinity, coached by Mike Higgins (2nd Season),
earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tourney. The Bantams have
a 4-2 record against the 28-teams in the tourney, having beaten
Tufts, 9-8, in overtime at home and won at both Bowdoin, 7-4, and
Connecticut College, 11-7, during the regular season, and lost to
Bowdoin, 10-8, in the NESCAC Semifinals on Saturday. The Bantams
suffered a 12-5 loss at Western New England in the second game of
an 0-2 start to the year. Trinity, ranked No. 17 in the
nation, handed the Jumbos their second loss on an overtime tally by
junior attackman and 2011 All-NESCAC honoree Rob Nogueras
(Parkland, Fla.) on March 31.
Against Eastern Connecticut, Nogueras and fellow All-NESCAC
junior Nick Shaheen (Williamsburg, Mass.) finished
with four points apiece with three goals and one assist and two
goals and two assists, respectively, while juniors Matt
Cohen (East Lyme, Conn.) and Jeff Hebert
(Cornwall, Ontario) and sophomore Scott Growney
(Berwyn, Pa.) had two goals apiece for the Trinity
offense. Senior captain and two-time all-league selection
Peter Johnson (Riverside, Conn.) made 12 of his 19
saves in the first half and added five ground balls, while senior
captain defenseman Alex Gottsch (Sparks, Md.)
notched five ground balls and five caused turnovers.
Starting every game this season for the second year in a row and
logging all but 30 seconds of the team's 964:31 minutes in goal,
Johnson holds an 8.09 GAA with 201 saves (3rd in NESCAC) and a .593
save percentage (4th in NESCAC), and adds 49 ground balls (2nd on
team). Gottsch has emerged as a top defenseman, and leads
Trinity in ground balls with 61 and in caused turnovers with 45.
Junior Chris Novick (Charlotte, N.C.) and
sophomore Will Naughton (Mountain Lakes, N.J.) are
also stingy defenders with 48 ground balls between them. Nogueras
headlines the Bantam offense with 41 goals (4th in NESCAC) and six
assists for 47 points (9th in NESCAC), while Shaheen boasts 31
points (19g, 12a), and first-year attackman Matt Hauck
(Ridgewood, N.J.) adds 15 goals and a team-high 12 assists
for 27 points. Hebert adds 17 goals and eight assists for 25
points, and junior midfielder Steve Manning (Tyngsboro,
Mass.) has 15 goals and nine helpers.
Tufts, coached by Mike Daly, has won 11 in a row overall,
including a 9-8 final in double overtime against Bowdoin to win the
NESCAC championship on Sunday. The Jumbos faced six teams
that qualified for the NCAA Tournament during the regular-season,
posting a 6-2 record against them. This is the fourth
straight NCAA Championship bid for the Jumbos. They have compiled
an 8-3 record in five NCAA Tournaments overall. Tufts was the 2010
NCAA Champion, defeating Salisbury 9-6. They advanced to the NCAA
final again last year, but lost a rematch against Salisbury
19-7. Cole Bailey leads Tufts in scoring with 21 goals and 40
assists, while Beau Wood has 46 goals and 13 assists, and Patton
Watkins has made 179 saves with a 7.44 GAA in the Jumbo goal.
NCAA bracket
