2011 Pilgrim League Tournament To Kick Off Wednesday

Springfield, Mass. - Starting on Wednesday afternoon, the Pilgrim Lacrosse League Tournament will commence with Springfield, Babson, Wheaton and MIT all vying for the automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.

For the third-straight season, all four of these programs will battle it out in the lacrosse conference postseason. 

Springfield won the regular-season title for the fourth-consecutive season and will be the top seed in the tournament.  Babson is the second seed after going 4-1 in league play this season, while Wheaton, MIT, and Clark all went 2-3 in league play.  Wheaton earned the third seed based on having the best non-conference opponents winning percentage among the three teams, while MIT took the fourth seed based on its regular season win over Clark. 

No. 2 Babson will host No. 3 Wheaton at 7:00 pm on Wednesday evening.  In their previous meeting this season, reigning Pilgrim Rookie of the Year Alex Patinkin poured in five goals and four assists to lead the Beavers to a 19-14 win over Wheaton in Babson Park on April 9.  Both Chris Landers and Ben Cederberg scored four goals for the Lyons. 

No. 1 Springfield will take on No. 4 MIT at 7:00 pm as well on Springfield's Stagg Field.  When these teams played last Saturday, Springfield raced out to a 6-0 advantage and never looked back as it bested the Engineers 15-5.  Harry Bernstein tallied three goals and three assists in the first half for Springfield, while Christopher Rullan made 22 saves in goal for MIT.

The Championship will held at 1:00pm on Saturday May 7, 2011 at the site of the highest remaining seed.