#3 Bulldogs, #1 Hawks battle for NEC Championship, NCAA bid Saturday at 1 p.m.

PHILADELPHIA – After earning the right to defend its title Thursday night, the Bryant University men's lacrosse team will go for its fourth-straight Northeast Conference Tournament crown and third-consecutive berth into the NCAA tournament Saturday, taking on host Saint Joseph's at Sweeney Field at 1:00 p.m.

But the third-seeded Bulldogs (7-9) will have to go through the top-seeded Hawks (11-5) to achieve their goals, a feat that no NEC team has been able to accomplish so far in 2015.

Saint Joseph's stunned the Bulldogs in the teams' only regular-season meeting back on March 29 in Smithfield, R.I., scoring three goals in the final 70 seconds – including a Ryan McGee tally that found the back of the net just milliseconds before the horn – to walk away with an 8-7 victory.

Few teams have had an answer for McGee, an All-NEC First Teamer who enters Saturday's title bout with 51 points off 28 goals and a league-leading 23 assists, but it is NEC Offensive Player of the Year Mike Rastivo who leads the Hawks. The sophomore's 60 points and 43 scores lead the league, and the attack ranks 20th nationally with 2.69 goals per game. Deadly on the man advantage as well, Rastivo has eight extra-man scores in 2015 and notched an impressive five tallies in his team's 10-4 NEC Semifinal victory over Mount St. Mary's in Thursday's early game.

NEC Rookie of the Year Chris Blewitt and all-conference second team performer Kevin Forster round out the team's top scorers with 29 and 34 points, respectively, while Pat Swanick completes the Hawks' starting attack trio with 19 goals and 22 points of his own.

As prolific as the NEC's top-rated offense (11.00 goals per outing) is on the attack, the Hawks are just as stingy on defense, where they rank sixth in that nation and allow just 7.50 opponent scores each time out. Saturday's top seed also ranks sixth in caused turnovers per game (8.13), 10th in clearing percentage (.884) and 17th in ground balls per game (31.00), with all three numbers ranking first in the league.

That success falls squarely on the shoulders of sophomore goalie T.J. Jones, who ranks seventh nationally with a 7.70 goals against average and 20th with a .546 save percentage. In front of him, All-NEC First Teamers John Winchell and Will Farrell limit the opportunities of opposing offenses, combining for 42 caused turnovers, while the later adds 53 ground balls.

Bryant senior captain and NEC Player of the Year Kevin Massa (Huntington, N.Y.) can expect one of his toughest challenges at the faceoff X against second team honoree Mike Lanham, as the sophomore ranks 16th in the nation with a .565 winning percentage while leading the team with 70 ground balls. Lanham will be looking to improve upon the 4-for-15 mark he posted against Massa back on March 29 after going 8-for-15 in his team's semifinal victory Thursday.

Massa enters the NEC Championship off a stellar 17-of-22, 11-ground ball performance Thursday against second-seeded Hobart and currently ranks fifth in the country at the X (.658) and third in ground balls per game (8.75).

Continuing down the middle, two-time reigning NEC Defensive Player of the Year Gunnar Waldt (Freeland, Md.) might be the toughest opponent the Saint Joseph's offense has faced, as the junior ranks inside the top-15 nationally in save percentage (.571), goals against average (8.26) and saves per game (10.81), posting 10 stops in Thursday's victory.

In front of him, sophomore Cody O'Donnell (Smithfield, R.I.) had a big night on both sides of the ball in the NEC Semifinals, notching the game winner and the team's second man-down goal of the season while starting on close defense for the Black and Gold. The Bulldog backline, led by senior first-team selection Connor Dent (Havertown, Pa.), kept Hobart leading scorer Alex Love off the board and played a key role in Bryant's 13-for-14 clearing mark.

Offensively, the Bulldogs saw seven players get on the board Thursday night to post the team's second-highest goal total of the season in the 11-8 victory. Sophomore first-team attack Tucker James (Essex Fells, N.J.) recorded his fourth hat trick of the season while adding a pair of assists, upping his season totals to 31 goals and 46 points, both team highs. Junior linemate Shane Morrell (Glen Mills, Pa.) added a goal and two helpers and ties James with 46 points of his own, leading the side with 18 assists on the year.

Saturday's game marks Bryant's fourth-straight appearance in the NEC Championship Game, where the Bulldogs are 3-0. The title bout between the Bulldogs and the Hawks can be seen live and free-of-charge at NECFrontRow.com.