Danes won’t overlook opponent

Ualbany says it’ll treat 1st-round foe Richmond with respect in NCAAS

The University at Albany men’s lacrosse team will play the 14th NCAA Tournament game in program history on Saturday.

What sets this match apart from the previous 13 is it’s the first one in which the Great Danes could be considered a heavy favorite.

The second-seeded Great Danes (14-2) take on Richmond (11-5) in a first-round match at 5 p.m. at Casey Stadium.

Head coach Scott Marr said the America East champion Great Danes are preparing for this NCA A game like any other, even though his team has its highest seed ever and the Spiders are making only their second appearance in the tournament and looking for their first victory.

“It’s no different,” Marr said. “It doesn’t have any effect on us at all, to be honest with you. All we talk to (the players) about is that respect is circular, and just give them respect and watch them play and scout them and do like you were preparing for Maryland or Syracuse and be ready to play.”

The Great Danes will play host to an NCAA game for the second straight year and the third time in all. Last year, they dethroned defending national champion North Carolina 15-12 in front of a first-round record crowd of 6,472 in Albany despite steady rainfall.

There were 4,231 tickets sold as of Friday at noon for Saturday’s match, which will be played in temperatures forecast in the low 50s with a chance of showers.

“It’s awesome to play here,” senior longstick midfielder Troy Reh said. “The crowd that we get this year at least has been awesome and we feed off that energy. Hopefully we get another big crowd.”

It’ll be the final home game for Ualbany’s 11 seniors, though star attack Connor Fields’ status is still uncertain because of his sprained right knee. He didn’t play in the America East cham-

pionship victory over Vermont last Saturday.

He sat out practice this week until returning to the field on Friday, which Marr said was a must if Fields was going to have a chance to play on Saturday. He went through a full practice, but is listed as “doubtful” for Richmond, according to a team spokesman.

Marr said he remains convinced Ualbany can realize its ultimate goal of a national championship without Fields at full strength.

“Sure,” he said. “There’s a simple recipe. Have the ball, don’t turn it over on clears, play solid defense and score into double digits. … There’s no reason why we can’t.”

Even without Fields, Ualbany seems like a strong choice to get past Richmond, a program in only its fifth year of existence. The Spiders defeated Jacksonville in overtime last Saturday to get the Southern Conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

“Like we’ve been saying all year, we’re not listening to outside noise,” Reh said. “We know Richmond’s a very good team. I mean, anyone in this tournament can beat anyone. We’ve got to come out and play our game and we’ve got a very good game plan going. Hopefully the outcome is what we expect and what we want.”

It’s the first meeting between Ualbany and Richmond in a game that counts. They’ve scrimmaged each other in the fall the past few years, including one at Johns Hopkins in October in which Ualbany led 13-5 when the starters played.

Marr has told his players to disregard that unofficial game because seven months have passed. Richmond coach Dan Chemotti is taking the same approach.

“I’m not even sure we’ve had to talk about that,” Chemotti said. “Our guys have grown up a lot over the course of the year. I think we have generally a mature group. We’re a much different team than when we played our first game in February. There’s still plenty of room for growth on this team.”

Richmond plays aggressively with a 10-man ride, a tactic that Yale used to give the Great Danes problems in a 14-6 loss on April 22.

The Great Danes have won three straight since then, while the Spiders enter on a six-game winning streak. The coaching staffs have shared ideas over the years because Chemotti played professionally with Ualbany assistant Merrick Thomson.

“We really admire the way that they play,” Chemotti said. “They get a lot of publicity, and they should. They’re a great team. They’ve got great players.”

The winner advances to an NCAA quarterfinal on May 19 at Hofstra against the winner of Sunday’s first-round match between No. 7 Notre Dame and Denver.