April 24, 2012

BOSTON, Mass. - For the first time in each program's history, the Men's and Women's Lacrosse teams will be making their first-ever appearance in the 2012 Great Northeast Athletic Conference tournament. The women's squad qualified for their first post-season berth after posting a 5-9 overall mark with a 2-7 record in GNAC play to qualify as the \#8 seed while the men's team notched a 7-8 overall record with a 3-6 mark in the GNAC to earn the \#7 seed in the tourney.

On Tuesday, April 24, the women's team will travel to Northfield, Vt. to take on the \#1 seed and defending GNAC Women's Lax champions in Norwich University. The Cadets bring an unblemished mark to the tournament, boasting a perfect 11-0 record with a 9-0 GNAC mark and have a +/- goal differential of +103 over the course of the regular season. In their meeting earlier this season, Norwich was able to down the Saints, 20-4 on March 20.

Emmanuel's 2012 squad has been led by senior captain, Logan Carr (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.). Carr leads the team with 49 points on 39 goals and 10 assists. Her 39 goals are a new single-season record as is her cumulative point total. Right behind her in productivity is junior Madeline Leahy (Cohasset, Mass.) with 47 points on 29 goals and 18 helpers, which ranks fifth overall in the GNAC in assists. The freshman trio of Madison Altweis (Southington, Conn.), Alexia Basile (West Hartford, Conn.) and Marykate McNulty (Madison, Conn.) has enjoyed stellar rookie campaigns, combining for 83 points to account for almost 40% of the Saints offensive production. Altweis is second on the squad in goals with 30 while Basile is not far behind with 28 scores. McNulty rounds out the Saints scorers with 20+ goals with 22 tallies on the campaign. Sophomore goalie Hillary Dandurant (Merrimac, Mass.) has seen all the action in between the pipes for Emmanuel, notching 127 saves on the year to rank fifth in the GNAC.

Norwich is paced by senior Kacey Abbriano's (Hicksville, N.Y.) 66 points on 50 goals and 16 assists. The middie has scored multiple goals in 22 consecutive games and has been named the GNAC Player of the Week twice this season.

On the men's side, EC will travel to Newton, Mass. to take on the \#2 and defending GNAC Men's Lax champions in Mount Ida College on Wednesday, April 25. The Mustangs bring a 12-4 overall record to the tournament including an 8-1 GNAC mark, with their only conference loss coming at the hands of Lasell College in a 7-6 game on April 7. When the two squads battled earlier this season in Emmanuel's inaugural GNAC match, Mount Ida was able to come away with a 13-3 victory on March 24.

The young Saints have enjoyed solid production this season from junior Ted Dimando (Hampstead, N.H.) and freshman Jake Jaskolski (St. Clair Shores, Mich.) who each have 26 points heading into the playoffs. Dimando is tied for the squad lead with 19 goals while Jaskolski has 12 goals and a team-leading 14 assists. Freshman Evan Dolber (Malden, Mass.) shares the team-lead with 19 goals to go along with a pair of assists for 21 points. Also with 21 points are senior Eddie Thy (Portland, Maine) and freshman Brian O'Regan (Milton, Mass.). Freshman goaltender Austin Lauzer (Bedford, N.H.) has been outstanding in goal for the Saints, posting a 7.88 goals against average while notching a total of 133 saves on the year. The netminder was named the GNAC Goalkeeper of the Week for the final week of the regular season and over the course of the year posted seven games with 10+ saves to help the Saints stay in almost every contest.

Mount Ida is led by junior Gilson Fernandes's (Saugus, Mass.) team-leading 34 goals and freshman Michael Trocci's (Danvers, Mass.) team-high 51 points on 20 goals and 31 assists.

Both GNAC Quarterfinal matchups are scheduled for 4:00 PM starts. To follow the men's action live, visit http://livestats.prestosports.com/mountida/ on game day.