WALTHAM, Mass. – The Bentley University men's lacrosse team, ranked eighth in the latest United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association poll, opens its season Saturday afternoon against the two-time defending national champions and the number one ranked team in Division II, C.W.Post.

Bentley is the only team currently ranked in the poll yet to begin its season. On the other hand, the Pioneers, who defeated Le Moyne 14-9 to win the national championship last season, are already 6-0. These two teams met last season in Brookville, N.Y., with C.W. Post emerging with a close 7-4 victory.

The Falcons lost a number of talented players to graduation from last year's team that went 9-5 overall, 7-3 in the Northeast-10 and finished ranked in the final USILA poll. They made the NE-10 playoffs for the ninth time in 10 seasons and the 13th time under head coach Jim Murphy, beating Pace in the quarterfinals before falling to Le Moyne in the semis.

Among those players who graduated were All-Americans Kevin Gould and Matt Allen, plus significant contributors Addi Van Hatcher, Wyatt Couture, Stephen Moulton and goalie Andy Collette.

That's not to say the cupboard is bare. Junior Brendan Grant (Walpole, Mass./Xaverian Brothers), last year's second leading scorer with 37 points, returns and will lead the attack, as does senior co-captain and midfielder Steve Murray (Billerica, Mass./Billerica), a 12-goal scorer in 2010. Another co-captain, senior midfielder Mike MacDonald (East Falmouth, Mass./Falmouth), who was among the team's leaders in both ground balls (30) and caused turnovers (16), is also back.

Two other co-captains and midfielders, Matt Boilard (Wilbraham, Mass./Minnechaug) and Dante Mancini (Syosset, N.Y./Syosset), round out one of the most talented and experienced midfields in the conference. Another senior midfielder, Troy Neville (Duxbury, Mass./Duxbury), should handle most of the face-offs this season after splitting that duty with Nick Jesi in 2010.

On defense there are two returning starters, the fifth co-captain Brian Galvin (Whitman, Mass./Boston College HS) and junior Keegan Haynes (Beaverton, Ore./Valley Catholic). Galvin secured 36 ground balls and caused 11 turnovers last season, while Haynes had 10 and 8.

In goal, senior Mike O'Neil (Marblehead, Mass./Marblehead) is the most experienced of the team's three goalies, with sophomore Nate Billings (Bridgewater, Vt./Brewster Academy) and freshman Brian Karl (New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan) behind him.

After opening with the Pioneers, the Falcons play their home-opener on March 23 against New York Tech, before beginning their NE-10 slate at home against No. 8 Adelphi three days later. Their two biggest NE-10 games of the season come four days apart and both are on the road. They visit No. 6 Merrimack on April 19 and No. 4 Le Moyne on April 23.