Kansas City, MO – The Patriots men's lacrosse team is heading to their fourth consecutive NAIA Invitational as they were among the eight teams announced by the NAIA National Office on Sunday.  Cumberlands earned the fourth-seed in the tournament and will face fifth-seed Tennessee Wesleyan in the quarterfinals on Wednesday May 11 at 2 p.m.

UC enters the tournament with a 12-4 record after they posted a runner-up finish in the AAC tournament.  The Patriots have seven wins against teams that are ranked or receiving votes in the NAIA Coaches' Poll, including three wins against NAIA top-five opponents.  It marks the third time in program history that Cumberlands enters the national tournament as the fourth-seed and they are looking to improve to 4-0 in quarterfinal games.

The Patriots attacking until of Dylan Crouch, Thomas Fogarty, and Christian Vanover has recorded at least 38 goals this season to break Cumberlands' single season record.  Crouch, an AAC First Team selection, leads the way with a program best 34 assists and 72 points.  Fogarty and Vanover have notched 69 and 59 points, respectfully, while four other Patriots have netted double-digit goals on the year.  Defensively, Jake Morgan had tallied a NAIA-best 49 caused turnovers to go along with 67 ground balls on the year.  Chrystian Coleman and Schylar Chapman have combined for 44 caused turnovers and 73 ground balls.  Will Settle has stopped 60.1% of shots he has faced and has limited opponents to 6.99 goals against average.  The senior keeper has recorded at least ten saves in each of the last four games.

Tennessee Wesleyan earned an at-large berth to nationals after going 13-3 on the year and finishing second in the AAC during the regular season.  The Bulldogs are averaging 12.75 goals per game, which ranks tenth in the NAIA, while they are ranked fifth with a 65.7% faceoff win percentage and fourth in limiting opponents to 6.89 goals per games.  Austin Hall, the AAC Defensive Player of the Year has a 167 saves and a 60.3 save percentage.  Tennessee Wesleyan has six players that has tallied at least 20 points this season, which give them a balanced attack that is hard to defend against.  The Bulldogs are making their second national tournament appearance and the first since 2016.

These two teams are very familiar with one another as they have meet twice this season, splitting those meetings.  Tennessee Wesleyan defeated UC 14-13 in overtime on March 30, while the Patriots knocked off the Bulldogs 12-2 in the semifinals of the AAC Tournament.  In that game, UC scored nine straight goals over the first two and half quarter for the victory.

The winner of this rubber match will face the winner of #1 Indiana Tech and #8 Benedictine in the semifinals.  Cumberlands fell to Indiana Tech earlier this year and closed out the season with a road win over the Ravens.  On the other side of the bracket #2 Reinhardt faces #7 Keiser, while #3 St. Ambrose will host #6 Aquinas.

The NAIA Invitational will take place at Ashton Brosnaham Athletic Park.  For more information click here.

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