Men's Lacrosse Tournament Headquarters
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Davenport men's lacrosse team looks to defend its 2011 MCLA National Championship when the tournament begins Monday. Davenport opens the tournament with a match-up against the eleventh-seed Concordia.
Davenport is making its fourth straight appearance in the National Tournament and has accumulated a 7-2 record in the past three seasons. Davenport defeated #12 Utah Valley State, #4 Briarcliffe, #1 Grand Valley State, and #2 St. Thomas last season en route to their National Championship.
Davenport comes in as the sixth-seed after finishing with a 12-5 overall record. The Panthers played one of the toughest schedule in the country with ten games during the regular season coming against teams ranked in the top 16 of the MCLA Top-25 Poll. The Panthers also posted a 2-1 record against MCLA DI teams. After defeating Aquinas College in the opening round of the CCLA Conference Tournament, the Panthers fell to Dayton in the Semifinals.
“We feel that playing the toughest schedule possible, on the road, and against teams where the outcome matters is the best way to prepare for Nationals,” said Head Coach Bob Clarkson.
Davenport will be used to playing away from the DU Turf Field as the team played only three home games. The Panthers went 5-5 in games played at neutral locations and 4-0 in true road games.
Davenport's opening round match-up will be against the Eagles of Concordia (Cali.) Monday at 1:00 PM. Concordia finished the regular season with a 14-4 record. Both Davenport and Concordia lost to St. Thomas this seas at neutral sites.
“Concordia is a team that we have never played or even see play. We are working on learning as much as we can to prepare for this team. That is one of the exciting things about Nationals is that you get to play teams that you have never had the opportunity in the past. I look forward to meeting these folks.”
The winner of the Davenport/Concordia match-up will take on the winner of third-seed Westminster and fourteenth-seed Saint Marys match-up Tuesday morning.
“I think our draw was fair considering the teams wins and losses. At the end of the day, you need to beat 4 teams to win the championship anyway.”
The bottom half on the Davenport side of the bracket features matchups between the seventh-seed Savannah College of Art and Design and tenth-seed Grand Canyon and the second-seed Grand Valley State and fifteenth-seed Washington University-St. Louis.
The bracket sets up for a possible rematch of last season's National Semifinal game in which the Panthers defeated GVSU 16-15 in four overtimes. Davenport has faced GVSU in each of the last two National Tournaments going 2-0 in those games.
Another familiar foe for the Panthers is St. Thomas. Davenport has faced the Tommies in all three of their appearances in the National Tournament. St. Thomas knocked the Panthers out of the tournament the first two years but Davenport got their revenge last season, defeating St. Thomas 14-9 in the National Championship.
“We need to play a disciplined brand of lacrosse, understand when to press and when to be more cautious, limit the penalties, and play with a great deal of intensity. If we can do these things, I feel like we have a chance to go deep into the tournament. If we can't our visit to South Carolina will be short lived.”
Davenport will take on Concordia in the first round on Monday at 1:00 PM. Live stats and video will be available throughout the tournament. Live updates will also be available on the DU Athletics and Davenport Lacrosse twitter pages.
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