ALBANY, N.Y. – The University at Albany men's lacrosse team took down Sacred Heart on Wednesday night, 13-7, in the Opening Round of the NCAA Championship. The Great Danes now move on to the First Round as they prepare to take on top-seeded Notre Dame, the defending National Champions, in South Bend, Ind.
The First Round matchup is set for 5:00 p.m. on Sunday evening from the Arlotta Family Lacrosse Stadium with coverage on ESPNU.
Game Info
May 8, 2024
NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship – First Round
UAlbany at #1 Notre Dame
Arlotta Family Lacrosse Stadium in South Bend, Ind.
5:00 p.m.
ESPNU |
Live Stats |
Tickets
The More You Know
- The Great Danes and Fighting Irish have met three times in the Division I era, with Notre Dame taking all three games. The first meeting came in 2008 with Notre Dame taking a 7-6 victory. The two teams met again in the NCAA Championship in back-to-back years, Notre Dame winning 14-13 (OT) in 2014 and 14-10 in 2015.
- The men's lacrosse program has now won ten America East Championships dating back to 2002. Before this season, the team's most recent championship came in 2018.
- This is UAlbany's 11th appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
- This year, the Great Danes captured their 12th America East Regular Season Championship all-time.
Leading the Pack
- Captain Jake Piseno is coming off of a dominating performance in the America East Championship, where he was named the Most Outstanding Player. In the Championship Game alone, Piseno scored two goals while collecting five ground balls and forcing four caused turnovers. The 2024 AE Defensive Player of the Year sits third in the NCAA with 2.53 caused turnovers per game and has more ground balls (77) than anybody in the America East outside of faceoff specialists. He's scored 13 times this year with the long pole, adding six assists.
- Sophomore attack Silas Richmond paces the America East in points with 69 on the year. He's scored 45 goals and added 24 assists for an average of 4.06 points per game. He recorded a season-high eight points in last week's Semifinal matchup against Bryant, scoring four goals and adding four assists. He scored another four goals and added an assist in the Championship Game against Vermont and dropped another four goals and an assist against Sacred Heart in the Opening Round.
- Faceoff specialist Regan Endres has been dominant for UAlbany at the X this season. He currently sports a faceoff percentage of .591, now third in the conference overall. When accounting for conference-only games this season however, he paced the league with a .618 percentage and 8.86 ground balls per game. He has won more faceoffs than he has lost in all but three games this year. He won 13-22 faceoffs in Wednesday's victory over Sacred Heart.
- Freshman goalkeeper Landon Whitney has been stellar in net for the Great Danes. He sits third in the America East with an 11.09 GAA, sporting a .493 save percentage while averaging 10.53 saves per game. The America East All-Rookie Team selection recorded 12 stops on Wednesday against SHU.
- Ryan Doherty (47) and Graydon Hogg (40) sit second and third, respectively, on the team in points. Doherty, the 2024 AE Rookie of the Year, has scored 34 goals and added 13 helpers. Hogg, a First Team All-Conference and All-Academic Team selection, sits with 26 goals and 14 assists.
All-American Captain
Fresh off of Wednesday night's Opening Round victory, Captain
Jake Piseno was named a USA Lacrosse First Team All-American on Thursday morning at LSM. The USA Lacrosse All-America Team was the first announced among major lacrosse outlets.
The Pick is In
On Tuesday evening, Captain LSM
Jake Piseno was
selected #9 overall in the 2024 Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) Draft to the Denver Outlaws.
"It's an awesome feeling," said Piseno. "The anticipation of every single pick before me was great. Having all of my teammates here, my father, the coaching staff, that's what meant the world to me."
Piseno will begin his PLL career at UAlbany when training camp opens later this month ahead of the 2024 season's opening weekend at Tom & Mary Casey Stadium June 1-2. The Outlaws are set to take on the Carolina Chaos on June 1 at Casey Stadium starting at 1:00 p.m.
All-Championship Team
Four Great Danes found their way to the America East All-Championship after earning the league's automatic bid.
Jake Piseno,
Graydon Hogg,
Max Neeson, and
Silas Richmond all had their names called in postgame celebrations. Piseno was named the Championship's Most Outstanding Player for his extraordinary effort in the Championship Game.
All-Conference
UAlbany collected
13 awards when the America East released its end of year honors before the Championship. Collecting major awards was
Jake Piseno (Defensive Player of the Year),
Ryan Doherty (Rookie of the Year) and Head Coach
Scott Marr and his staff (Coach of the Year).
Piseno was named an All-Conference First Team selection with Teammates
Graydon Hogg,
Silas Richmond, and
Conner Fingar. Making the All-Conference Second Team was
Regan Endres and
Wil Pepe. Doherty,
Jackson Palumb, and
Landon Whitney were named to the conference's All-Rookie Team. Hogg represented the Great Danes on the All-Academic Team.
Scouting #1 Notre Dame
Notre Dame (12-1) is coming off a successful weekend at the ACC Championships in Charlotte, recording top-10 wins over Virginia and Duke to claim the title. The Irish will enter the NCAA Tournament winners of 10 straight and will be the #1 overall seed in the tourney for the second time in program history, also earning the top seed in 2015.
- The Irish won their first national title in program history last season, claiming the 2023 NCAA Championship in Philadelphia.
- Pat Kavanagh, Liam Entenmann and Eric Dobson had their names called on Tuesday night during the 2024 PLL Draft. Entenmann is headed to the New York Atlas, Kavanagh to the Boston Cannons and Dobson to the Carolina Chaos.
- Entenmann is set to go down as an all-time great at Notre Dame, as he has been the best goalie in college lacrosse the past few seasons. The graduate student is the back-to-back winner of both the ACC Goalie of the Year and ACC Defensive Player of the Year. In 2023 Entenmann was named the USILA Ensign C. Markland Kelly Jr. Outstanding Goalie, which is presented to the top goalie in the country.
- A two-time Tewaaraton Finalist and the 2024 ACC Offensive Player of the Year, Pat Kavanagh is the most decorated attacking player in Notre Dame men's lacrosse history. The graduate student holds the all-time career Notre Dame points (281) and assists (173) records. Kavanagh helped lead the Irish to their first national title in program history, capturing the 2023 championship. Kavanagh is also the only player in program history to record 10 points in a single game, a feat which he has achieved three times in his career.
- Dobson enters the 2024 NCAA Tournament with 125 career points off 86 goals and 39 assists. The senior had a monster performance in the 2023 NCAA Tournament semifinal overtime win over Virginia, scoring four a team-high four goals and adding an assist to help Notre Dame go on and win the national title.
Last Time Out
The Great Danes took down MAAC Champions Sacred Heart on Wednesday night at Casey Stadium, 13-7, in the Opening Round of the NCAA Championship.
- Alex Pfeiffer led the way with four goals and two assists for six points, ripping seven shots of goal.
- Silas Richmond followed with four goals of his own, adding one helper and a ground ball.
- Jake Piseno finished with three ground balls and three caused turnovers. He added an assist after forcing a caused turnover and going coast to coast, dishing the ball to Ryan Doherty.
- Landon Whitney collected 12 saves for a .632 save percentage.
- Regan Endres went 13-22 at the X, picking up 10 ground balls.
Next: The winner of Sunday's game will move on to face either #8 Georgetown or Penn State on May 18 in the NCAA Quarterfinals.
