Lasell Athletics to host GNAC Tournament contests

NEWTON, Mass. – It's Fall Tournament Week in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) and the Lasell College athletic teams will be hosting home events in the sports of women's volleyball, women's soccer and field hockey.

All of the teams will be vying for their respective GNAC Championship and the conference's automatic berth in the NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament.

WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL: The Lasers finished the regular season with a 13-18 overall record, and captured fourth place in the GNAC with an 8-4 mark. Lasell is the No. 4 seed in the GNAC Tourney and will host No. 5 seed Suffolk University (11-16, 7-5 GNAC) this Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. at the Lasell Athletic Center in a quarterfinal contest. The semifinals are slated for Thursday at the higher-seeded teams, and the championship match is Saturday at the highest remaining seed. Lasell, which swept Suffolk in three sets in the regular season match on September 15, was eliminated in the semifinals last year at Johnson & Wales University.

WOMEN'S SOCCER: The eight-time defending GNAC champion Lasers completed the regular season with a 13-5 overall record and won the regular season crown with an 11-1 conference mark. The top-seeded Lasers edged eighth-seeded University of Saint Joseph (Conn.) in a quarterfinal match-up last Friday in double overtime, 2-1, and will host fourth-seeded Emmanuel College (14-5, 9-3 GNAC) in a semifinal game this Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. at Taylor Field after the Saints edged fifth-seeded Regis College in their quarterfinal, 1-0. Wednesday's contest will be a rematch of last Wednesday's 2-1 upset victory by Emmanuel over Lasell in the regular season finale, snapping the Lasers' 20-game unbeaten streak over GNAC opponents, dating back to last season. The championship game is Saturday at the site of the highest remaining seed.

FIELD HOCKEY: The Lasers wrapped up the regular season with a 13-6 overall record and finished runner-up in the conference with a 6-1 mark. The No. 2 seeded Lasers received a first-round bye in the GNAC Tournament and will host No. 3 seeded Colby-Sawyer College (14-4, 5-2 GNAC) in a semifinal meeting Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. at Grellier Field after the Chargers knocked off sixth-seeded Anna Maria College Sunday in the quarterfinals, 4-1. Lasell defeated Colby-Sawyer, 4-2, in the regular season meeting back on September 8 in what was the Chargers first GNAC contest since joining the conference this season. Lasell advanced to the GNAC Championship game a year ago, falling to Saint Joseph's College (Maine), 4-0, in its first title game appearance.

Complete tournament results and information are available at the GNAC website at http://www.thegnac.com/landing/index.

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