DOYLESTOWN (Pa.) – The Delaware Valley University men's lacrosse team will travel to DeSales University for the quarterfinals round match-up of the 2021 Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom championships tomorrow afternoon.
The Aggies finished the regular season 5-6 overall and 3-4 in league play to earn the fifth seed while the Bulldogs took the fourth seed with a 5-4 overall mark and 4-2 record in conference.
The game will take place in Center Valley with faceoff slated for 1 p.m. Before attending the game, please carefully review the DeSales University spectator policy (link). If you cannot attend, the Bulldogs will provide live video (link) and live stats (link).
DelVal and DeSales met less than two weeks ago in Doylestown during the regular season. The Bulldogs and the Aggies were both devoid of key players, but it was DeSales that came away with a comfortable 12-3 win as it led 9-0 at the half and led by as many as 10 in the third.
DelVal's leading scorers this season are seniors PJ Rafferty and Dylan Brasch, both of whom missed the regular season meeting. Rafferty has 30 points this year on nine goals and 21 assists and Brasch follows close behind with a team-best 27 goals with two assists for 29 points. Rafferty's 2.33 assists per showing ranks fourth in the league and Brasch is fifth with his three goals per game.
Rounding out the offensive attack are three players with 20-plus points and 15-plus goals. Junior Ben Napieralski has 15 goals and nine assists, senior Brandon Keller also has 15 goals with seven assists, and junior Brett Ziegler has 17 goals and four assists. Senior Matt Waibel adds a balanced effort with nine goals and eight helpers this year for 17 points.
Defensively, the Aggies are led by first-year Luke Kelchner and junior Sean Mylod who rank among the top in the league at their position. Mylod leads the team in ground balls this season with 64 and is second with 21 caused turnovers and 15 faceoff wins. With 6.4 ground balls per game he ranks fourth in the league and his 2.1 caused turnovers per game is fifth-best. Kelchner paces the squad with 35 caused turnovers in 10 games played and ranks second in the MAC Freedom in that category. He's added 44 ground balls, good for 11th in the league, and he has won 10 faceoffs.
Chris Dearden is the team's faceoff specialist and is an even 50-percent on the year with 59 ground balls. Jim Murphy has started 10 games in goal with 11 appearances and has racked up 119 saves with a .509 save percentage.
As a team, the Aggie have scored 104 goals but have allowed 147 and are 9-for-44 on extra-man opportunities while surrendering 18 extra-man goals on 46 tries. They have forced more turnovers (258) than they have given up (242), and they are successful on 77.6-percent of clear attempts.
On the other side, DeSales' Tom Connors had a game high six points when the two teams met in April on four goals and two assists. He is third on the tea with 30 points this season. Zach Bowen, who missed the regular season game at DelVal, leads the team with 31 goals and 35 points. Vince Maria leads the Bulldog defense with 24 caused turnovers, good for third in the league, and faceoff specialist Colin Corrado is fourth in the conference with a 62.7-percent mark at the x and has 37 ground balls. Quinten Lyons has made nine starts in goal and has 115 saves and a .548 save percentage.
This year's tournament field is as follows: 1. Stevens, 2. Arcadia, 3. Misericordia, 4. DeSales, 5. Delaware Valley, 6. Wilkes, 7. King's, 8. Lycoming.
The MAC Freedom Men's Lacrosse Championship spectator policy will adhere to the spectator policy of each institution throughout the duration of the tournament. Each institution's spectator policy can be found on the MAC Institutional Spectator Policy Resources Page.
2021 MAC Freedom Championship t-shirts will only be available via online order through May 10. Championship merchandise features a teal moisture wicking short sleeve t-shirt with the championship logo on the front and all of the conference team logos on the back for $18 plus additional shipping fees. To order a t-shirt, click here.
The quarterfinal round will take place on April 30 - May 1 and the semifinal round will take place on Wednesday, May 5. This year's championship will conclude with the title game on Saturday, May 8.
DeSales won the last conference title in 2019, and Misericordia won a title in 2017. Eastern, who has moved to the MAC Commonwealth, played in the eight MAC Freedom title games and came away with six titles.
