Spartans Make First NCAA Appearance; Will Host Mercyhurst

After finishing the regular season with a 15-2 record and winning both the Sunshine State Conference regular season and tournament titles, the University of Tampa men's lacrosse team was selected as one of the eight teams to represent the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the 2014 Division II Men's Lacrosse Tournament.

The Spartans are seeded as the No. 2 seed in the South Region and will host No. 3 seed Mercyhurst University on Saturday, May 10.

This marks the first appearance by a school from the state of Florida in the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Tournament as UT is the first from all NCAA levels. Additionally, Saturday's contest will mark the first-ever postseason men's lacrosse game in Florida in NCAA history.

The NCAA South Region will also feature top-seed Limestone College hosting Queens University on May 10. The winner of that game will meet Tampa or Mercyhurst in the NCAA national semifinals, which is scheduled for May 18 at the sight of the highest seed.

SSC Player of the Year Conor Whipple leads Tampa with 40 assists and 86 points. His season highlights include scoring a hat trick in each of the first six games of the season, recording a program-high 11 points in the Spartans 21-13 win over Florida Tech, and recording at least two points in all 17 games the Spartans played this season.

Also playing vital roles for the Spartans are Jake Rooney, Trevor Calleja, and Andrew Failla. Rooney leads Tampa with 60 goals, while Calleja has a .596 faceoff win percentage and has picked up 89 ground balls. Failla is 11-2 in the cage this season and has a .598 save percentage. The trio of Larry Gress, Marty Heyn, and Nate Tembi have helped hold opponents to 7.35 goals per game.

The Spartans and Lakers faced each other on April 5, with Mercyhurst winning 14-7. In that game, Mercyhurst jumped out to a 9-1 halftime lead. Cory Becker netted a man-up goal to extend the Lakers lead to 10-1. The Spartans started to rally as Brian Patton and Bobby Calhoun scored back-to-back goals to cut the lead to 10-3. After a Lakers goal, Whipple found Rooney in front of the cage for a goal to make the score 11-4 after three quarters. Both teams netted three goals in the final period for the 14-7 final.

The NCAA men's lacrosse championship game is scheduled for May 25 at 4 p.m., in Baltimore.

Click here for the official web page for the NCAA Division II Men's Lacrosse Tournament.

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