FROSTBURG, Md. – The Frostburg State Men's Lacrosse team will play for the 2022 ECC Championship on Saturday, May 7 in their first appearance at the conference tournament. Their opponents will be the conference one seed and the second-ranked team in the country, Mercy College.

How They Got Here
FSU enters the contest at 11-7 on the season, having earned the No. 2 seed in the conference after a 4-2 ECC record. The Bobcats defeated third-seeded Molloy 21-6 in the semifinals at Bobcat Stadium.

The Mavericks come into the game riding a 10-game win streak, as they haven't lost a game since March 5. They have defeated four ranked teams this season and most recently defeated four seed Roberts Wesleyan 17-11 in the ECC semifinal.

The Matchup
Mercy defeated Frostburg in the schools' first-ever matchup on April 30 by a score of 12-6. The teams played a mostly-even contest through three quarters, with the Mavericks taking a two-goal lead into the fourth quarter, where they then outscored the Bobcats 5-1 for the final 12-6 scoreline.

The Players
FSU's attack is led by first team All-ECC selection Jake Bowman (32 goals, 27 assists), second team honorees Bubba Love (27 goals, 34 assists) and Matt Ward (26 goals, 15 assists), and standout senior Gavin Schattall (31 goals, 7 assists). Defensively, ECC rookie of the year and second team selection Seamus Kearney (39 caused turnovers, 49 groundballs) has been a force all season, while first team selection Luke McCullough (13 caused turnovers, 46 groundballs) second team honoree Jake Sprecher (21 caused turnovers, 33 groundballs) have also been stout in defense. In the faceoff circle, senior Cade Price has been outstanding in recent weeks, having won more faceoffs than his opponent in the past five games, as he leads the team with 129 wins on the year.

Mercy features the most first team selections in the conference with nine. Their offense is led by the conference offensive player of the year Brady Kearnen (30 goals, 32 assists), who finished third in the conference in points. Joining him in the attack is first team selections Dominic Scorcia (41 goals, 20 assists), Andrew Calabria (20 goals, 5 assists), and Jack Gibbons (25 goals, 13 assists), as well as second team honorees TJ Heyder (23 goals, 10 assists) and Matt Eccles (17 goals, 13 assists). The Maverick defense is one of the best in the country, with the fifth-best goals against record in Division II, led by ECC goalkeeper of the year and first team honoree Tommy Umano. The defense also features first team selections Jake Fitzgerald, Jack Kipnes, and Justin Gerdvil, who was the conference defensive player of the year. When it comes to faceoffs, Mercy wins 61% of the time in the circle, with a combination of Jason Keuhner (83 wins, 64.3%) and PJ Argiros (108 wins, 61.7%). 

The game will be live from Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. on Saturday, May 7 at 3 p.m. Live video can be found at https://www.eccsportsnetwork.com/mercyathletics/, while live stats will be available at https://mercyathletics.com/sidearmstats/mlax/summary. Additionally, tickets to the game can be purchased at https://eccsports.org/tickets.