(media notes)

Widener, coming off its 12th Middle Atlantic Conference title, will face Springfield in the first round of the NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Tournament on Wednesday.

Game time in Springfield, MA is 4:00 pm.

Widener (10-9) will make its eighth trip to the NCAA Tournament and first since 2008.  The Pride have two such victories to their credit, an 11-9 triumph at Kenyon in 2006 and an 8-5 win at Denison in 2007.

Widener claimed its fifth title in six years with Saturday's 10-8 victory at FDU-Florham.  The Pride were making their sixth straight trip to the MAC final, improved to 20-3 in this tournament and 9-1 in their last 10 tournament games on the road.

Junior Nick Fluharty (West Grove, PA) played a huge role by winning 14-of-21 face-offs Saturday and was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, taking 60 percent (38-of-63) of the draws in three games.  Junior JJ Hoeffler (Cranford, NJ) notched a hat trick in the final.

The sixth-seeded Pride became the lowest seed to win this tournament and the first to do so with three road wins.  They previously were the only team to win three games in the tournament, accomplishing this during the 2007 title campaign.

 
Springfield (12-5) went 7-0 in the Pilgrim League and upended Wheaton, 12-7, on Saturday in the conference final.
 
Wednesday's winner advances to play at second-ranked Salisbury in the “Sweet 16” on Saturday.