WALTHAM, Mass. – A week after a disappointing performance at Southern Connecticut State, the Bentley University Falcons will return to the Nutmeg State this weekend, moving south about five miles to take on the University of New Haven. Saturday's game at Dellacamera Stadium will be a noon start, with a link to the webcast available at www.bentleyfalcons.com.

Saturday's 35-13 loss to the Owls, coupled with New Haven's 35-0 shutout of American International, left Bentley, Southern Connecticut and New Haven with identical records (5-4, 5-3 conference) and in a three-way tie for third heading into the final scheduled games before the pairings for Northeast-10 Championship Weekend are set.

Options for the Falcons are the third, fourth or fifth seed. If Bentley wins and Saint Anselm upends Southern, coach Bill Kavanaugh's club will be number three. Wins by Bentley and Southern Connecticut would give the Falcons the fourth seed and a rematch with the Owls on the road. If Bentley loses to New Haven, it would be a home game as the number five seed against an opponent to be determined.

Bentley has allowed first-quarter points in only two games all season, but one of those came Saturday when the Owls capitalized on a fumbled opening kickoff and opened a 14-0 lead a little more than six minutes into the contest. There were a few opportunities to get back in the contest, but that wasn't to be as the Owls snapped a four-game losing streak to the Falcons.

Highlights in the game included a pair of field goals by freshman Grant Buchanan (Holliston/ Holliston HS), a fumble recovery from junior linebacker Vinny Banek (Clark, N.J./Arthur L. Johnson HS) after a strip sack from junior d-end Dan Catalano (North Reading/Austin Prep HS), and the Falcons' 18th interception of the season, this one the third of the year by senior safety Junior Chery (Waltham/Waltham HS).

A couple career milestones were achieved, including senior linebacker Bryan Hardy (Barnstable/ Barnstable HS) becoming the first player in the program's varsity history to amass 300 career tackles. In addition, grad student Chris Calvanese (Norfolk/Xaverian Bros. HS) surpassed the century mark in receptions.

Despite giving up 35 points to the Owls, Bentley will return to Connecticut with a solid defense. The Falcons lead the NE-10 in several categories, including tackles for loss (7.0), defensive TDs (3), interceptions (18) and fourth down conversion defense (.250), and are 19th in Division II in turnovers gained, 31st in scoring defense and 39th in total defense. No team in college football has more interception return yards (441) than Kavanaugh's crew.

Hardy is second in the NE-10 in tackles and is six tackles away from reaching the century mark for the second time in three years.  Meanwhile, each of the five players who have started in the secondary this season, have multiple interceptions.

Corner Peter Thorbahn (Norwell/Xaverian Bros. HS) is tied for fourth among Division II freshmen nationwide in interceptions (4) and is fifth nationally in passes defended (19). Senior safeties Sam McDonald (Norfolk/King Philip Reg. HS) and Junior Chery (Waltham/Waltham HS) each have picked off three passes with McDonald one shy of the Bentley career record of 18. Senior corner Lamar Hardy (Centreville, Va./Westfield HS) has two picks and a dozen break-ups, and sophomore safety Nick Athy (Holliston/Holliston HS) also has two interceptions.

Junior linebacker Brandon Brown (Oxon Hill, Md./Suitland HS) has also been a key contributor with 10 of his 53 tackles resulting in losses. Defensive end Phil Rigoglioso (Ridgewood, N.J./Bergen Catholic HS) and linebacker Joey Piatnik (Bethel, Conn./Bethel HS) lead the team in sacks, with four and 3.5, respectively.

Junior Mack Lowrie (Foxborough/Roxbury Latin HS) is expected to make his fourth start of the season at QB for the Falcons Saturday. In his first three, he's thrown for 326 yards and four TDs, three of which came Oct. 22 against Stonehill.

His primary targets have been sophomore Drew Mahoney (West Suffield, Conn./Suffield Academy) and former high school teammate Sean Myers (Foxborough/Roxbury Latin HS). Mahoney caught eight balls at Southern and now has 46 for 450 for the season. Myers (33 for 255 with 4 TDs) has multiple receptions in every game this season.

New Haven, the second highest scoring team in the conference, has numerous offensive weapons, although a key contributor, running back Andre Anderson, is not expected to play on Saturday. Last year's league MVP leads the conference in rushing (742, 11 TDs) and is second in all-purpose yards (1,172).

Senior quarterback Ajee Patterson has thrown for 2,194 yards and 19 TDs while directing an offense that is amongst the best nationally in taking care of the ball (only nine turns). Ty Headen, another of the eight seniors who start on offense for the Chargers, has averaged 18.1yards per reception and reached the end zone seven times.

Linebacker Tyler Condit recently broke the NE-10 record for career tackles and has 89 so far this season. Danny Stock has been perfect as New Haven's placekicker (9-9 fg, 40-40 PAT) and also averages 42.2 yards as the team's punter.

New Haven has been a difficult foe for the Falcons in recent years with the Chargers having won the last six meetings. The last two have both gone down to the wire with a Stock field goal with 2.2 seconds on the clock giving the Chargers a 22-21 win last year and a Headen catch with 1.3 seconds remaining resulting in a 38-35 Falcon setback in 2014.

BENTLEY BRIEFS: The Falcons will be looking for their first win over New Haven since 2009 … of the seven previous meetings, six have been decided by seven points or less … senior Matt Montalto (West Yarmouth/Dennis-Yarmouth Reg. HS) is fifth in the NE-10 in kickoff return average with his 26.0 the best by a Falcon since 2007 … senior Tyler Ford (Amherst, N.H./Souhegan HS) is on pace to break Bentley's single season punting record for the third straight year with his average currently 43.9 … The Falcons will be playing in their fourth Homecoming game of the year. They won their own over Pace, spoiled American International's with a road win,  and lost to Southern Connecticut.