Top-Seeded QU Men's Lacrosse Opens MAAC Tournament Thursday vs. Canisius (12 PM)

2018 MAAC TOURNAMENT SEMIFINAL ROUND
Thursday, May 3, 2018 | 12 PM
#1 QUINNIPIAC (9-5, 6-0 MAAC) vs. #4 CANISIUS (6-8, 3-3 MAAC)
West Long Branch, N.J. (Monmouth University) | Kessler Stadium
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HAMDEN, Conn. — The top-seeded Quinnipiac men's lacrosse team will open play at the 2018 MAAC Tournament against fourth-seeded Canisius on Thursday at noon in the semifinal round at Monmouth University's Kessler Stadium. The winner will move on to the Saturday championship, which will be televised live at 10 a.m. on ESPNU.

BACK IN THE MAAC
The Quinnipiac men's lacrosse team is back in the MAAC Tournament after missing out a year ago. In 2016, the Bobcats won the MAAC Tournament at home with wins over Canisius and Marist, after going 6-0 in the regular season in league play. Last year, the Bobcats didn't qualify, but they returned to their 2016 form with another 6-0 season this spring, and will again meet Canisius in the semifinal round.

REGULAR SEASON MEETING WITH CANISIUS (QUINNIPIAC 19-14)
The Quinnipiac men's lacrosse team honored its 14-member senior class prior to the game on April 14 and then jumped out to a big lead and held on for a 19-14 win over Canisius to clinch a berth in the 2018 MAAC Tournament. Freshman attack Jake Tomsik had four goals and two assists to lead the Quinnipiac offense, while junior attack Foster Cuomo had four goals and one assist. Senior midfielder Brian Feldman, one of the 14 seniors honored prior to the game, and junior attack Mike Fletcher added hat tricks. Quinnipiac led 19-7 early in the fourth quarter before Canisius closed out the game on a 7-0 run.

IN SEARCH OF 100
The Quinnipiac men's lacrosse team has a lot of reasons to want to win two games this weekend, but one of the residual benefits would be a major milestone. Head Coach Eric Fekete comes into the MAAC Tournament with 98 career wins, two shy of 100.

TOMSIK WINS FOURTH ROOKIE AWARD
In what has been a common occurrence this year, the Bobcats were represented on the final MAAC honors list on Monday as Jake Tomsik won the Rookie of the Week for the fourth time after a five-goal effort in a 17-14 win over Marist. It was the 13th MAAC weekly honor for the Bobcats this year:

Quinnipiac MAAC Weekly Awards
Mike Fletcher - MAAC Offensive Player of the Week (Feb. 19, April 9)
Foster Cuomo - MAAC Offensive Player of the Week (March 5, April 2)
Will Vitelli - MAAC Defensive Player of the Week (Feb. 19, April 16, April 23)
Adam Bellamy - MAAC Defensive Player of the Week (April 9)
Jake Tomsik - MAAC Rookie of the Week (Feb. 12, March 18, April 16, April 30)
Matt Frost - MAAC Student-Athlete of the Week (Feb. 19)

FELDMAN JOINS CENTURY CLUB
With a second-half goal at Fairfield on March 6, senior midfielder Brian Feldman became only the fourth player in Quinnipiac history to score 100 goals in a career. The other three players to accomplish the feat reached 100 goals over a two-year span from 2001-02, meaning that Feldman's milestone is one that had not been accomplished by any Bobcat over a span of 16 years. He now has 118 career goals, putting him alone in third place. He also is in fifth place on the career points list, while junior Foster Cuomo joined the 100-point club in the regular season finale at Marist and stands in 14th place with 102 points.

QUINNIPIAC TOP CAREER GOAL SCORERS
1.    144 Mike Baglio '02
2.    140   Joe Baglio '02
3.    123 Brian Feldman '18
4.    117 Alan LoGiudice '01
5.    94    Ryan Keenan '16

QUINNIPIAC 100-POINT CLUB
1.    207     Joe Baglio '02
2.    187    Mike Baglio '02
3.    183    Michael Sagl '15
4.    159     Alan LoGiudice '01
5.    140    Brian Feldman '18
6.    131    Ryan Keenan '16
7.    126    Corey Pronsky '97
8.    124     John Giordano '03
9.    123     Andy Pelletier '04
10.  109    Josh Murray '06
10. 109    Jack Oppenheimer '11
12.  103    Dylan Webster '14
12.  103    Frank DeRubeis, Jr. '96
14. 102 Foster Cuomo '19

A COLLECTION OF HAT TRICKS FOR FELDMAN
Senior Brian Feldman scored three goals in an April 14 win over Canisius, marking his 20th career hat trick. Canisius was also the opponent for his highest-scoring career game, a seven-goal outburst in a 17-9 win as a sophomore. He is coming off his 21st career hat trick with five goals in a road win over Marist on Saturday, and has 28 goals this season, his fourth season of 28 goals or more. He has scored his 123 with 29 as a sophomore, 36 as a sophomore, 30 as a junior and 28 so far this year.

CUOMO EARNS PAIR OF WEEKLY HONORS
Junior attack Foster Cuomo was named the MAAC Offensive Player of the Week and earned a spot on the USILA National Team of the Week after his six-goal, two-assist effort in a March 31 win at Detroit Mercy. The eight points set a new career high, breaking his previous best of seven (five goals, two assists) which he set earlier this year in a win over NJIT, after which he earned his first MAAC Player of the Week.

A 50-50 CHANCE
Junior attack Foster Cuomo comes into the postseason with 47 points this year on 31 goals and 16 assists. Since Quinnipiac went Division I in 1999, only five different players have had a 50-point season for the Bobcats (a total of seven times). Joe Baglio (1999, 2001) and Michael Sagl (2013, 2015) are the only ones to do it twice, which Cuomo could give himself a chance to accomplish with three more points this year. Cuomo is also a hat trick away from moving into the top 10 on Quinnipiac's single-season goal scoring list, as three players are tied for ninth with 33 (most recently Ryan Keenan in 2016, who was also the last person to reach 50 points with 51 that year).

FAMILY TIES
The final piece to Quinnipiac's offensive puzzle this season has been the emergence of junior Mike Fletcher, who saw only spot duty in his first two seasons and came into this year with three career goals. He passed that total in one day, scoring four times in a 12-11 overtime win over No. 17 Brown, including the game-winner in the extra session. Fletcher comes into the postseason with 25 points and 15 assists to rank third on the team with 40 points. Fletcher's older brother, Joe, was a defenseman for Loyola ('14) who saw his career progress from spot duty as a freshman to first-team All-America honors and being the third pick in the MLL Draft. Joe Fletcher is a current member of the U.S. National Team after being chosen to the 23-player travel roster that will represent the United States at the Federation of International Lacrosse Men's World Championships this summer in Netanya, Israel, from July 12-21.

ON THE ATTACK
Quinnipiac's new attack line of junior Foster Cuomo (31 goals), junior Mike Fletcher (25 goals) and freshman Jake Tomsik (26 goals) has combined for 82 goals this season. Cuomo played in the midfield last year until moving up to attack in the season finale at Canisius, where he had a hand in all six Quinnipiac goals (three goals, three assists). Fletcher saw only spot duty as a freshman and sophomore, with three goals over those two seasons, while Tomsik stepped into a starting role in his rookie season. As a unit, they have accounted for almost half of Quinnipiac's 166 goals this season, which is four shy of the program record for most goals in a season, set in 1998.

WHERE THERE'S A WILL
Senior face-off specialist Will Vitelli has had several games in his career where he has completely dominated his position, including a 19-19 performance at Marist as a sophomore. He nearly added another perfect day on March 10 against Wagner, starting 14-14 before losing the opening face-off of the fourth quarter and finishing 15-16. He has been named the MAAC Defensive Player of the Week three times this season, including after an 18-of-22 effort at the face-off X against Monmouth earlier this year.

WELL-GROUNDED
The offensive numbers for the Bobcats have been impressive this season, but Quinnipiac is also denting the record books with their ground ball proficiency. Senior face-off specialist Will Vitelli has 74 ground balls and senior long-stick midfielder Adam Bellamy has 70, which ranks as the eighth- and ninth-best single-season totals in school history. Bellamy ranks third on Quinnipiac's career ground ball chart with 210, while Vitelli is fifth with 183.

DEFENSIVE CLINIC
Quinnipiac used a dominant defensive effort to capture an 11-3 home win over Wagner on March 10. The Bobcats did not allow a single even-strength goal the entire day, allowing only an extra-man goal in the second quarter and two on EMOs in the fourth. Sophomore goalie Joe Zukauskas had eight saves, while the close defense of Riley Palmer, Mike Ruane and Bryce Nalls helped hold the Seahawks to only 20 shot attempts.

HOME, SWEET HOME
Quinnipiac played in a brand-new 1,500-seat stadium this season, and earned its first win in the new facility with a 12-11 overtime victory on Feb. 17 against nationally ranked Brown (No. 17). A year ago, the Bobcats played all five home games at Yale and lost the five games by a combined seven goals. The previous season, Quinnipiac won six games in a row on campus at its old facility, including a MAAC Championship win over Marist and an NCAA win over Hartford.

ROAD, SWEET ROAD
Quinnipiac is returning to Monmouth for the conference tournament after its last two trips to West Long Branch produced some milestone moments. In 2016, the Bobcats clinched the regular season title with an 8-5 win at Monmouth. Meanwhile, on April 20 this spring, Quinnipiac captured a 10-9 double-overtime win over Monmouth on a goal from Ryan Corcoran to once again clinch the regular season title.

Schedule

Top-Seeded QU Men's Lacrosse Opens MAAC Tournament Thursday vs. Canisius (12 PM)

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