Bentley Set for Rematch with Pace in NE10 Championship First Round on Saturday
WALTHAM, Mass. – Bentley will take on Pace on Saturday afternoon at 4:00 PM in the first round of the Northeast-10 Men's Lacrosse Championship. The game can be seen live on NE10 Now.
The Falcons are ranked No. 20 in this week in the USILA Division II Coaches Poll and are the No. 5 seed in the NE10 playoffs. They went 7-5 overall in the regular season and 6-4 in the NE10. They clinched the No. 5 seed with a 16-14 victory at Southern New Hampshire on Tuesday night in the regular season finale.
Pace is ranked No. 11 this week by the USILA. They are the No. 4 seed after they went 7-3 in NE10 games and 11-3 overall.
When these teams played in the regular season back on April 16 it went to overtime. The game featured five lead changes and the Setters scored three goals in the final minute of regulation to force overtime. Pace then won it 1:10 into overtime on a goal by Kyle Casey to give them a 16-15 victory.
This could be another high scoring game as these are two of the three highest scoring teams in the NE10. Pace is second in the conference with a 15.07 goals per game average. Bentley is third with a 13.50 goals per game average.
Bentley's offense has been balanced all season with seven players in double digits for goals. Junior Luke Jaber (Milton, Mass./BC High) leads the way with 31 goals and seniors Ben Baldasaro (Exeter, N.H./Exeter), Ryan Birch (Walpole, Mass./Walpole) and Clay Moseman (Longmeadow, Mass./Longmeadow) are next on the list. Baldasaro has 21 goals, Birch 17 and Moseman 15.
Jaber's 31 goals are tied for 10th in the NE10 and Birch and Jaber are tied for 11th in assists with 16.
The Setters have the top three players in points in the NE10 in seniors Jake Veres (63 points) and Tim Cairo (59 points) and grad student Kyle Casey (59).
The faceoff circle will be a matchup to watch. The Falcons have two players in the top 15 nationally in faceoff winning percentage in sophomore Cam Bartolomeo (Meriden, Conn./Xavier) and junior Jake Tyska (Natick, Mass./Wayland). Bartolomeo is 6th nationally with a .672 percentage and Tyska is 15th with a .620 percentage. Pace's Max Streety is 6th in the NE10 with a .568 percentage.
These teams also met in the postseason last year in the 4-5 seed matchup, with the seeds reversed and Bentley the higher seed and home team. But Pace won that game 11-9.