UAlbany lacrosse ready for second shot at Yale

Foxborough, Mass.

To reach its first national championship game, the University at Albany men's lacrosse team must go through the team that handed the Great Danes their latest loss.

What a lopsided defeat it was, a 14-6 setback at Yale on April 22 that caused the Great Danes to take a long look at themselves.

No. 2 seed UAlbany (16-2) has won five straight since then and claims to be ready for the rematch with the third-seeded Bulldogs (15-3) on Saturday in an NCAA semifinal at Gillette Stadium at noon Saturday on ESPN2.

"The first time we played them, it was just a disaster," UAlbany head coach Scott Marr said. "It's just a different team right now, mentally and physically, and so we're in a really good spot as opposed to where we were when we went to New Haven."

In that game, the Great Danes were outplayed all over the field. Yale had a 41-15 advantage in ground balls and forced 13 turnovers, several with an aggressive 10-man ride UAlbany had trouble handling.

UAlbany even got outperformed in the faceoff X with specialist TD Ierlan and his wings winning only 8 of 21, the only time the Great Danes have been under 50 percent this season.

"It was a low point for sure," Marr said. "Nobody played well that day. We kind of got overwhelmed by a few things. ... But we learned from it, we got better from it. We've played really well since that loss and we haven't lost since. I think every experience you have on the field is a learning one and that one we learned about ourselves and what we were going to do moving forward."