PREVIEW: Men's Lacrosse Draws Misericordia in First-Ever NCAA Appearance

NEWTON, Mass. (5/8/17) -- The Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) champion Lasell College men's lacrosse team learned its first-ever NCAA Tournament draw Sunday night and will face the Cougars of Misericordia University in one of two first-round games to be played Tuesday in Salisbury, Md.

Game time is set for 4:00 p.m. at Sea Gull Stadium, and will be streamed live at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/salisbury/.  The winner will face host and No. 2 nationally-ranked Salisbury in second-round action Wednesday.

Entry prices are $5 for general admission, and $3 for students (with ID) and seniors.

The Lasers enter the tournament with a 13-3 overall record and is in the midst of a five-game winning streak after earning a 13-12 win over rival Mount Ida for their first GNAC crown on Saturday. Lasell finished the regular season with a perfect 8-0 record in league play. The Cougars improved to 12-3 with a first-ever Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom championship victory of their own over Eastern, 6-1.

Sophomore Ryan Madden (Hingham, Mass.) earned GNAC Tournament MVP honors after scoring hat tricks in each of Lasell's GNAC playoff contests ― a 14-11 semifinal victory over Norwich and the title game against Ida. Madden leads Lasell with 37 goals on the season, and his 48 total points are tied with classmate Austin Shindoll (Denver, Colo.) for second on the team.

Junior Austin Tomasetti (Elmsford, N.Y.) leads the team and ranks fourth in the GNAC with 64 points, while his 43 helpers are tops in the league. He scored two goals and two assists against the Mustangs, including the game-winning tally with 4:22 to play.

As a team, Lasell scores a league-best 13.13 goals per-game, while its 9.16 goals against-average is third and 147 goals allowed are the second-fewest. Senior goalkeeper Jorge Salazar (Waltham, Mass.) nine of his 12 saves in the second half of the title game, and boasts the third-best save percentage in the GNAC at .593.

Seven individuals have scored 20 or more goals for the Lasers, while eight have scored double-digit points. Additionally, senior midfielder Connor Johnson (Hampstead, N.H.) has scooped up the fifth-most ground balls in the league with 85, while sophomore David Sheehan's (Tewksbury, Mass.) 32 caused turnovers are tied for second.

Junior Chris Fleming (Hatboro, Pa.) has scored a team-high 35 goals and 52 points for the Cougars, who average 12.93 goals per-game and allow just 7.87. Classmate Patrick Kellish (Clark, N.J.) has 51 points, including 20 assists. Both players rank among the top-five scorers in the MAC Freedom, while sophomore Matthew Beck (Massapequa Park, NY) boasts a 7.16 goals against to sit second in the league.

Follow the Lasers on their journey to Md., by adding us on snapchat at @lasellathletics, and on twitter at @lclacrosse.