The NCAA News - News and Features

May 18, 1998

Division II Men's Lacrosse

Rematch will reveal champion

Event: Division II Men's Lacrosse Championship.

Overview: For the first time, the game will be played as part of the sport's Championships Weekend .... Long Island-C. W. Post beat Adelphi, 9-8, on April 18. Post stormed back from three goals down with seven minutes left. The team that won the regular-season meeting has lost the championship rematch in each of the last three years. Post coach Tom Postel expects a higher scoring game this time around, mainly because of an increased number of unsettled situations that might come from the combination of a long layoff and hot weather. Post's only setback came against two-time defending Division III champion Nazareth, 11-10. Goalkeeper Vin Fredericks leads the nation's top-ranked defense, ranking first in both goals-against average (6.13) and save percentage (.683). Gavin Chamberlain (24 goals, 18 assists), Charlie Jaworsky (26, 6) and Todd Bolognese (19, 11) lead the offense. Bolognese was MVP in the 1996 championship game, when the Pioneers beat Adelphi, 15-10 .... Adelphi is ranked second behind Post in scoring defense but gives up an average of 1.36 more goals per game. Junior Greg Kulesa ranks second in goals-against average (7.29) and eighth in saves percentage (.629). Offensively, the Panthers rank sixth in scoring offense (14.57 goals per game). Most of their punch lies with two players -- Mark Mangan (42 goals, 28 assists) and Anthony Picone (33, 24). Picone also is the team's top faceoff man, with his team controlling the ball more than 65 percent of the time. "I'm hoping we pro-duce more offensively," said coach Sandy Kapatos. "If I had been told before the first game that we would hold them to nine goals, I would have expected to win." The Panthers' two other losses were to Division III Hartwick and Salisbury State.

Field: Adelphi (11-3) vs. Long Island- C. W. Post (10-1).

Date and site: The game will be played May 24 at Rutgers.

Television coverage: Delayed coverage will air at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, May 24, on the Long Island Sports Network (and perhaps other cable systems in the New York area).

Information/results: The fax-on-demand number is 770/339-3060, passcode 1915. The request number for championship-game results is 5128. Results will be posted on the World Wide Web at www. ncaa.org. Results also will be published in the June 1 issue of The NCAA News.