2017 NCAC Men's Lacrosse Tournament

2017 NCAC Men's Lacrosse Tournament Champions: Denison University

Semifinals: Wednesday, April 26	Championship: Sunday, April 30
#1 Denison 21, #4 Wooster 3 - Boxscore	Denison 16, Ohio Wesleyan 8 - Boxscore
#2 Ohio Wesleyan 7, #3 Wittenberg 6 - Boxscore	Denison 16, Ohio Wesleyan 8 - Boxscore

Finals Recap:

Top-seeded Denison (15-1) captured its second-straight and third overall NCAC Men’s Lacrosse Tournament Championship after defeating seconded-seeded Ohio Wesleyan (11-6), 16-8, Sunday afternoon in Granville, Ohio. The win gives Denison the NCAC's automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division III tournament.

The Bishops opened strong taking a 3-1 lead after Max Tennant (Englewood, CO/Cherry Creek) scored his second of the game with 12:24 left in the second quarter. However, the Big responded by scoring 11 of the game’s next 12 goals including six-straight in the third quarter, led by Will Donohue (Charlotte, NC/Charlotte Latin School) registering four markers in that stretch to give DU an eight goal lead heading into the fourth. OWU opened the scoring in the final quarter but Denison again responded with four-straight goals before the Bishops closed the game with three goals in the final 2:36 as the Big Red went on to earn the eight-goal victory.

Donohue, who earned All-Tournament team honors, finished with a game-high six points on five goals and one assist. Henry DeCamp (Washington, D.C./Deerfield Academy) was named MVP of the Tournament after collecting 17 ground balls, scoring a goal and winning a remarkable 34-of-43 faceoff attempts in the two tournament games combined. In addition, Denison freshman goalie Stephen Paras (Barrington, RI/Barrington) finished the game with 10 saves.

Tennant and Conor Caffrey (Scituate, MA/Brewster (N.H.) Academy) led OWU in the championship game with four points apiece, while rookie goalie Andrew Halmi (Freehold, NJ/Colts Neck) closed out the contest with 14 saves in the cage for the Bishops.

2017 NCAC Men's Lacrosse All-Tournament Team

Aaron Blossey, Wittenberg
Brent Whitehead, Wittenberg
Josh Herold, Wooster
Ryan Harms, Wooster
Andrew Halmi, Ohio Wesleyan
Luke Leyden, Ohio Wesleyan
Jordan Carlson, Ohio Wesleyan
Conor Caffrey, Ohio Wesleyan
Will Donohue, Denison
Liam Rooney, Denison
Ben Duhoski, Denison
Teddy Sawyer, Denison

MVP - Henry DeCamp, Denison

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Semifinal Recaps:

The seeds held in the semifinal round of the 2017 NCAC Men's Lacrosse Tournament on Wednesday night, setting up a matchup between top-seeded Denison (14-1) and second-seeded Ohio Wesleyan (11-5) in the championship game at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday in Granville, Ohio. This marks the fifth year in a row that DU and OWU have matched up in the championship game, with both the Big Red and Battling Bishops owning two titles apiece.

Second-seeded Ohio Wesleyan killed off a late penalty, survived nine shots over the final 13 minutes, one that rang off the post, to hang on and defeat third-seeded Wittenberg (9-7), 7-6, in the first semifinal game on Wednesday night in Delaware, Ohio. Wittenberg senior Alex Dankowski (Pickerington, OH/North) opened the scoring at the 9:17 mark of the first quarter on an unassisted tally for his first goal of the season. Wittenberg took a 3-1 lead after Charlie Tillett (Wayland, MA/Wayland) rang up his ninth score of the season, assisted by Zach Shy (Columbus, OH/Upper Arlington) with 4:42 left in the first quarter. Ohio Wesleyan responded when Max Tennant (Englewood, CO/Cherry Creek) scored the first of three-straight Bishop goals that was capped off by Matt Maier (Summit, NJ/Summit) registering his 20th tally of the year at the 8:19 mark of the second quarter. Wittenberg tied the game on a Shy goal, but OWU responded just seven seconds later when Tennant scored to take a one-goal lead into the half, 5-4.

The Tigers got on the board first in the second half after Noah Moderwell (Libertyville, IL/Libertyville) scored his second of the night to tie the game. Ohio Wesleyan once again responded as Caffrey scored a pair of goals, the second coming with 3:59 left in the third quarter to give the Bishops a two goal lead heading into the fourth. Wittenberg cut the lead to one on Austin Brady’s (Pickerington, OH/North) 18th of the season early in the fourth but were unable to find the tying marker despite the late flurry. Caffrey finished with a game-high five points on three goals and two assists to lead Ohio Wesleyan. OWU outshot Wittenberg, 44-40, but Wittenberg held the edge on faceoffs, winning 11-of-17 attempts. Wittenberg senior Aaron Blossey (Rocky River, OH/Rocky River) racked up 13 saves in net for the Tigers, while Andrew Halmi (Freehold, NJ/Colts Neck) collected nine saves for the Bishops. Moderwell, Shy and Jack Strahm (Upper Arlington, OH/Upper Arlington) led the Tigers with two points each in the loss.

After nearly seven minutes of scoreless action to open the second semifinal game of the night, Denison sophomore attack Spencer Butler (Essex Falls, NJ/Millbrook School) scored two goals within less than 20 seconds of each other and the top-seeded Big Red never looked back en route to posting a 21-3 victory over fourth-seeded Wooster (9-9) on Wednesday evening in Granville, Ohio. After Butler’s two early scores, DU scored nine of the game’s next 11 goals to take a commanding 11-2 lead into halftime. The Big Red came out just as strong in the second half by scoring the first six goals of the half, which included another back-to-back scores from Butler midway through the third quarter for his second five-goal performance of the season. DU then added five more scores down the stretch to post the 18-goal semifinal victory over the Scots. Sophomore Henry DeCamp (Washington, D.C./Deerfield Acad.) jumpstarted the Big Red offense all night by winning 17-of-20 faceoff attempts, while rookie goalie Stephen Paras (Barrington, RI/Barrington) was strong in the cage for DU with six total saves. Wooster got two goals from senior attack Josh Herold (Massillon, OH/Jackson) in his final collegiate game, while freshman Wesley Wagner (Royersford, PA/Cardinal Gibbons) finished the game with 11 saves in just under 51 minutes of action in the cage.

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Tournament Preview:

Denison wrapped up its 17th North Coast men's lacrosse championship with a perfect 8-0 record this season after knocking off Wabash, 25-1, on Saturdy (4/22). Ohio Wesleyan, which finished second in the conference standings with a 7-1 mark in conference play, leads all league teams with with 19 conference championships, while Wittenberg has two and Kenyon and Wooster each boast one league title.

As league champions, the Big Red will enter the 2017 NCAC Men's Lacrosse Tournament as the top seed and will host fourth-seeded Wooster (5-3) on Wednesday evening at 7:30 p.m. In the first meeting this year between the two teams, DU collected a 17-6 win at Wooster on April 12. In the other semifinal game on Wednesday night, second-seeded Ohio Wesleyan (7-1) will entertain the third seed Wittenberg (6-2) at 7:00 p.m. in Delaware. The Bishops narrowly defeated the Tigers by a 17-14 margin in their regular season meeting on April 4th. The tournament championship game is set for Saturday at the site of the highest remaining seed to emerge from the semifinal round. The winner of the NCAC Tournament will receive the league's automatic bid into the 2017 NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Tournament.