Diplomats & Gettysburg to Meet in Opening Round of Centennial Conference Men's Lacrosse Playoffs

by Gettysburg Sports Information
4/22/02

GETTYSBURG, PA - Gettysburg College will host the Centennial Conference (CC) men's lacrosse championship tournament, to be held on Friday, Apr. 26 and Sunday, Apr. 28 at Musselman Stadium.

The top-seeded Bullets (12-1, 6-0 CC), currently ranked No. 1 in Division III, will host Franklin & Marshall (8-6, 3-3 CC) in Friday's first semifinal at 1:30 p.m. Western Maryland (12-1, 5-1 CC), ranked No. 16 in Division III, will square off against No. 3 Washington (10-2, 4-2 CC) in the day's other semifinal at 4 p.m.

The championship game will be held on Sunday at 1 p.m. Admission is free for all games.

The tournament's champion will earn the CC's automatic bid to the 2002 NCAA tournament, slated to begin on Wednesday, May 8.

Gettysburg, which enters the weekend ranked No. 1 in the nation for the third time in the last four years, is seeking the program's fifth consecutive CC championship and 12th berth in the NCAA tournament in the past 13 seasons. The Bullets reached the NCAA championship game for the first time in 2001.

Both semifinals are a rematch of the 2002 regular season's final weekend. Gettysburg downed Franklin & Marshall 14-5 on Saturday while the Green Terror edged the Shoremen 15-14 in double overtime to earn the CC's No. 2 seed.

Friday's games will also reprise last year's CC semifinal meetings. The Bullets edged the Diplomats 9-7 in the 2001 semifinals while Washington outgunned the Green Terror, 19-15. Gettysburg captured the inaugural CC tournament with a 15-7 win the Shoremen.

The Bullets have won six of the CC's eight championships (1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001). Washington captured conference titles in 1996 and 1997.