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HICKORY, N.C. -- For the third straight year and fourth time in series history, Lenoir-Rhyne and Tampa will meet in the NCAA Division II Men's Lacrosse Tournament. The 4-seed Spartans are set to host the fifth-seeded Bears this afternoon at 4 p.m. and own a 3-1 mark against LR in NCAA Tournament matchups. 

This will be the second straight year LR heads to Tampa for the tournament matchup and the 10th overall time the two programs have met. The Bears will be in search of their first win at Tampa in matchup history and will be looking to break a three-game losing streak to the Spartans on Wednesday. 

For LR, it will be the fifth appearance in the NCAA Tournament in program history and the third straight. LR has advanced to the National Quarterfinal, National Semifinal and National Championship games in the past three years and own a 4-4 all-time record in NCAA Tournaments. LR boasts 11 All-SAC selections, a record for the program in one season. Offensively, the Bears are paced by Toron Eccleston and Myles Moffat. Eccleston became just the fourth player in program history to reach 200-career points and did so in the SAC Championship game against Limestone. Moffat is already in the 200-point club and his 285 career points rank second in program history. The Bears have a chance to break some program records with a big offensive output this afternoon. The 2021 Bears own the record for most assists (175) and goals (303) along with points (478) but this year's version currently sit 22 goals and 21 points away from breaking those marks and need just one assist for the most in a single season in team history. 

Defensively, LR is one of the toughest teams to score on in the nation, allowing just 137 goals in 17 games. The 8.06 goals allowed per game rank as the fourth-best mark out of 74 Division II programs in the nation. The Bears are also 15th in the nation in caused turnovers per game at 10.59 and have held 11 opponents to single digit scoring outputs. 

The Spartans look to defend their National Championship from 2022 and started the 2023 campaign with a 4-0 mark after defeating LR 13-8 at a neutral site in Savannah, Ga. on Feb. 19 to run their overall winning streak to 25 straight games. However, a loss to Frostburg St. ended that streak and the Spartans saw another streak fall as they lost to Florida Southern at home in the SSC Semifinal on April 27 to snap a 34-game home winning streak. From 2020 to their National Championship victory over Mercy last year, the Spartans had a stretch where they went 39-1 over 40 games. 

Tampa takes care of the ball at an elite level as they are second in the nation in turnovers per game at 14.62 and their 93.4 percent clear percentage is also second in the nation. Blake Ulmer is second in the nation in save percentage and ninth in Division II in goals-against average and had a 21-save performance in an NCAA Quarterfinal victory over LR in the 2022 NCAA Tournament. Tampa is balanced with the 12th best scoring offense and 10th best scoring defense in the nation. Like LR, the Spartans also placed 11 players on the All-Conference squad, including five on the first team. 

The winner of LR and Tampa will take on SSC regular season and tournament Champion Rollins in Winter Park, Fla. Rollins earned the top seed in the South Region and will host the winners on Sunday.