Albany, Yale advance to NCAA lacrosse semifinals
HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (AP) Freshman Tehoka Nanticoke scored three goals, including a critical one as time expired in the first half, faceoff specialist TD Ierlan held his own at the X, and second-seeded Albany beat Denver 15-13 on Saturday in the quarterfinals of the men's NCAA lacrosse tournament.
Sean Eccles, Kyle McClancy, and Jakob Patterson also scored three goals apiece for Albany (16-2), which earned its first-ever trip to the Final Four . The Great Danes will face Yale (15-3), which defeated Loyola of Maryland 8-5 earlier Saturday.
The other quarterfinals will be played Sunday at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland, with top-seeded Maryland (13-3) against Ivy League champ Cornell (13-4) and fifth-seeded Johns Hopkins (12-4) meeting fourth-seeded Duke (14-3).
The Albany-Denver matchup featured the two best faceoff specialists in the game - Ierlan, a sophomore, and Denver senior Trevor Bapstiste, who ended his career with an NCAA record 1,158 faceoff wins. Ierlan won 15 of 30 faceoffs, helping Albany stay in front nearly the entire game.
Colton Jackson scored four goals for the Pioneers and Joe Reid had three.
