Seahawks travel to Bristol to face RWU in TCCC Quarterfinals

NEWPORT, R.I. - The Salve Regina University men's lacrosse team has earned the No. 5 seed in the 2010 The Commonwealth Coast Conference (TCCC) Tournament and will travel 30 minutes to face in-state rival and No. 4 seed Roger Williams University Saturday afternoon, May 1 at 1 p.m.

The Seahawks (9-7, 6-4 TCCC) have won three of their last four games, including a 10-8 decision against New England College on Saturday. The Hawks (9-6, 7-3 TCCC), meanwhile, closed the regular season on a seven-game win streak, capped by a 12-4 triumph at Gordon College on Saturday.

Earlier this season, the Hawks trumped the Seahawks 17-11 in Bristol. In that contest, the Seahawks held a 5-2 lead through 15 minutes of action but were outscored 15-6 the rest of the way. Drew Smith led the RWU attack with six goals while sophomore Chris Walker (Marshfield, Mass.) potted three goals to lead Salve Regina.

Walker led the Seahawks in nearly every major offensive category. He racked up 69 points on 46 goals and 23 assists, and his five man-up goals placed him second to junior Evan Gates (Ridge, N.J.), who finished with eight. Junior Brendan Rooney (West Newton, Mass.) was next with 50 points (27-23-50), followed by Gates with 27 points (21-6-27). Graduate student Nick Clark (Rye, N.H.) and senior Nate Burns (Sandwich, Mass.) (above) collected 72 and 71 ground balls, respectively, while freshman Chris Connors (Garden City, N.Y.) picked up seven of the Seahawks nine wins in net.

In other TCCC playoff action, No. 1 Endicott will host either Wentworth, Nichols, or the University of New England (TBD by a coin flip on Monday), No. 2 Western New England will host No. 7 Curry, and No. 3 Gordon will host No. 6 New England College. All three games are slated to begin at 1 p.m. next Saturday, but the times are subject to change.