| Brendan Ryan ’07, left, and the PC’s men’s lacrosse team will be playing in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament semifinals on May 5. Meanwhile, Rachel Bartholomew ’07, right, and the Friars’ softball team have qualified for the BIG EAST Conference Tournament that begins on May 11. |
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The Friars’ men’s lacrosse team and the softball team have qualified for postseason tournament competition, with the ultimate goal of advancing to the NCAA Tournament.
In its final regular-season game on April 29, the lacrosse team defeated Mount St. Mary’s, 8-3, in a home match to claim a share of the regular-season Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championship. PC, 8-6 overall and 6-2 in the MAAC, tied Mount St. Mary’s and Canisius for first place but will be the No. 1 seed in the four-team MAAC Tournament.
The Friars, who have qualified for the MAAC Tournament for the sixth straight year, will face fourth-seeded Marist (6-8 overall, 4-4 in MAAC action) on Friday, May 5, at 4:00 p.m. in the first of two semifinal games at Canisius in Buffalo, N.Y. The second semifinal will pair the No. 2 seed, Mount St. Mary’s (6-8, 6-2), against third-seeded Canisius (7-7, 6-2).
The semifinal victors will meet in the MAAC Tournament Championship on Sunday, May 7, at noon at Canisius. The champion automatically receives a berth to the NCAA Tournament.
Midfielder/attack player Michael Farley ’06 (Westfield, N.J.) leads PC in scoring with 39 points on a team-high 29 goals and 10 assists. Second with 27 points is attack player/midfielder Brendan Ryan ’07 (Chatham, N.J.). In goal, Peter Littell ’07 (Upper Montclair, N.J.) carries an 8-5 record and a 7.35 goals-against average.
The softball team, meanwhile, has qualified for the BIG EAST Tournament for the first time since 1995. PC took a 29-16-1 overall record and an 11-9 BIG EAST mark into its final regular-season games—a conference doubleheader at home against Louisville—scheduled on Thursday, May 4. Heading into that contest, the Friars were in sixth place in the 12-team BIG EAST Conference.
The conference tournament, which features the top eight teams, will be held May 11-14 in South Bend, Ind., and will be hosted by Notre Dame. The tourney champion automatically qualifies for the NCAAs.
Pitchers Jennifer Maccio ’09 (Huntington Station, N.Y.) and Sara Surosky ’07 (Elmira, N.Y.) have been mainstays for the Friars all season. Maccio had a 10-5 won-lost record after 46 games and a team-best 2.18 earned-run average (ERA). Surosky was 17-11 with a 2.29 ERA and an incredible 153 strikeouts in 168.1 innings pitched.
Offensively, five different players are hitting over .300 for the Friars through 46 games. Shortstop and catcher Elena Romero ’06 (Chula Vista, Calif.) was batting a team-high .361, including seven home runs. Catcher Rachel Bartholomew ’07 (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.) was next with a .358 average and was first in home runs and RBIs with 12 and 40, respectively.
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