The Spartans Look to Bounce Back Against the Crusaders

TAMPA, Fla. – The No. 19 University of Tampa men's lacrosse team is set to host the North Greenville University Crusaders on Wednesday, March 6 at 7:00 p.m. 

The Matchup: No. 19 University of Tampa (2-3, 0-0 SSC) vs. North Greenville University (2-4, 0-1 CC) 

Date/Time: Wednesday, March 6^that 7:00 p.m.

Location:  Naimoli Family Athletic and Intramural Complex | Tampa, Fla.


Last Time Out: The then ranked No. 9 Spartans were upset by the unranked Assumption College Greyhounds by a final score of 11-10. Due to the loss, the Spartans fell in the USILA coaches poll to No. 19. In the contest, the Spartans were without senior attackman Andrew Kew who leads all Spartans this season with 20 points. In his absence, Colin White stepped up as Tampa's biggest offensive threat. Against the Greyhounds, White recorded three goals on five shots, in addition to logging five groundballs. Following White's efforts were those of Matt Vetter who had one goal and three assists, and Jake Mosher McGraw who stated two goals. Junior Ross Dickerson won 18-23 face-offs, while senior Bryan Karn played keeper for the last 45 minutes and tallied seven saves. 

About the Spartans: Tampa is currently 2-3 on the 2019 season, 0-0 in the Sunshine State Conference. As mentioned previously, the Spartans are led offensively by senior Andrew Kew. Kew has 20 points on the season made up of 10 goals and 10 assists. Fellow senior Matt Vetter is second on the team in points with 13, nine goals and four assists. Freshman Harry Kilkowski comes in third offensively with 12 points. Kilkowski has accumulated 10 goals and two assists in his freshman campaign. Defensively, Sam Collingwood has six caused turnovers on top of his three ground balls, while Jack Tyrrell has five caused turnovers and nine ground balls. JuniorRoss Dickerson remains one of the best faceoff specialists in the nation. He currently has the ninth-best face-off winning percentage in all Division II with 73.7%. Dickerson has won 98-113 face-offs from the X. Finally, at keeper, the Spartans have been using the combination of returning SSC Freshman of the Year, B.J. Borowski, and senior Bryan Karn. The two have recorded 60 saves on the season, 46 and 14 respectively.   

About the Crusaders: The Crusaders are currently 2-6, 0-1 in the Conference Carolinas. North Greenville's two wins have come over Embry-Riddle 15-10, and Wheeling Jesuit 16-6. The Crusaders two leading goal scorers have been Austin Dixon and Thomas Cecere who have 14 and 11 goals respectively. A. Dixon is also NGU's assist leader with eight, followed by Alex Proly with seven. Proly has stated a team-high of seven caused turnovers for the Crusaders. North Greenville uses Jon Watson for face-offs. Watson has won 72 of the 132 faceoffs he has taken this season. The Crusaders starting goalie is #36, Braeden Dixon. B. Dixon has tallied 43 saves on the season, with a goals against average of 12.31 and a save percentage of .434.  

Series History (Men's): The Spartans lead the all-time series with the Crusaders 1-0.