FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Courtesy of Emmanuel Athletics Communications

BOSTON, Mass. - The three-time defending Great Northeast Athletic Conference champion Emmanuel College men's lacrosse team earned the 15-seed in the North Region of the 2016 NCAA Div. III Championship Bracket, as announced by the NCAA last night. 

For the third straight year, Coach Brendan McWilliams and the Saints will travel to Medford to take on the two-time defending national champion Tufts Jumbos.

Game time on Wednesday is 4:00 pm. Tickets will be $6 for adults, and $4 for students and senior citizens. They will be on sale starting at 3:00 pm.

Emmanuel Roster | Tufts Roster
Emmanuel Schedule & Results | Tufts Schedule & Results
Emmanuel 2016 Statistics | Tufts 2016 Statistics 

The matchup in EC's portion of the bracket are Ithaca (18-1) vs.Morrisville State (13-2), Keene State (14-3) vs. Montclair State (12-6), and Western New England (15-3) vs. SUNY Cortland (13-5). 

The Tufts-Emmanuel winner will take on the Western New England-SUNY Cortland winner in the second round on Saturday, May 14.

The Jumbos are 16-2 overall this spring. They won the 2016 NESCAC title 20-14 over Middlebury College earlier today. Tufts was 9-1 in the regular season, earning the top seed in the NESCAC tournament.

This is the ninth NCAA Tournament berth for the Jumbos and eighth in a row. They have a 22-5 mark in NCAA play with three titles (2015, 2014, 2010), one finals appearance (2011) and a semi-final finish (2012). The Jumbos had wins over Emmanuel, Bates (13-8), Amherst (17-10), and RIT (19-12) leading up to their 19-11 victory over Lynchburg in the '15 NCAA final.

The Saints have now won 33 straight GNAC contests (regular season and playoffs) and earned the GNAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for the third straight season after defeating Lasell, 14-13, on Sunday afternoon.